The global financial chaos cast its shadow over a gloomy opening of the World Economic Forum today.

The Japanese government agreed today to use taxpayers’ money to shore up the nation’s fifth-largest bank after executives said its capital had fallen below legally required levels.

State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy said Japan has to pursue its reforms more vigorously after the recent sharp fall in US stocks, which helped to push up the value of the yen against the dollar.

Japan’s economic problems deepened in April, with unemployment rising and industrial production and wage-earner spending dropping, the government said in Tokio today.