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Japan finance minister denies drinking at G7

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-16 10:39

TOKYO - Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa denied on Monday he drank alcohol ahead of a Group of Seven gathering in Rome and said cold medicine had affected his performance at a news conference after the weekend meeting.

Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa speaks to reporters after the G7 finance ministers meeting in Rome February 14, 2009. [Agencies]

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"To tell you the truth, my cold medicine was having a big effect," Nakagawa told reporters in Tokyo after returning from the Italian capital.

"I wouldn't drink before a G7 meeting," he said, sniffling repeatedly.

At the news conference with Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa after the G7 meeting in Rome, Nakagawa yawned and his speech sounded slurred.

At one point during the news conference, Nakagawa, his head down and eyes closed, mistook a question directed to the central bank governor as one for him.

Japanese television broadcasters and several national newspapers issued news stories calling attention to Nakagawa's appearance at the news conference.

Nakagawa, who took up his post last September, is a close ally of Prime Minister Taro Aso, whose cabinet is suffering from dwindling public support ahead of an election due this year.

Data on Monday showed Japan's economy shrank in the last quarter of 2008 by its most since the first oil crisis in 1974, hit by an unprecedented slump in exports.