JAPAN UNDER ATTACK OVER TRADE SURPLUS Japan's economic policies face fierce international attack as hopes fade of a substantial drop in its trade surplus, international monetary sources said. At a meeting this week in Paris, senior government officials from major nations are considering an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) staff report that forecasts a continuing large Japanese trade surplus, they said. Though Japanese exports have become more expensive with the yen's sharp rise against the dollar, they still tend to surge when growth picks up, according to the OECD. As a solution, the OECD staff has urged Japan to redirect its export-driven economy, boosting domestic demand and imports by adopting a more flexible fiscal policy, they said. That recommendation echoes calls made recently at secret meetings of the International Monetary Fund's executive board. The monetary sources said Japan's policy was criticized when the board met to consider the country's economy under the annual consultations it holds with each of its members. The United States, which until recently has been reluctant to criticize Japan's fiscal stance, joined in the attack, he said. The IMF staff has also cast doubt on the Japanese government's forecast of 3.5 pct economic growth in the fiscal year beginning April 1. Most independent forecasters, including the IMF, believe that growth in calendar 1987 will be below three pct, monetary sources said. The Finance Ministry has been particularly sensitive to such criticism because it is already under mounting domestic pressure to boost an economy hard-hit by the yen's rise. The yen's climb has lost exporters sales and profits in the huge American market. Tokyo is also eager to avoid any suggestion that a further yen rise might be needed to cut its trade surplus, which last year amounted to a record 93 billion dlrs. Japan cannot tolerate a further rise of the yen, Foreign Minister Tadashi Kuranari said recently. The yen closed here today at 151.53 to the dollar. Most Japanese politicians, including Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, are clearly hoping the yen will weaken, government officials said. At a meeting in Paris last month, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, the United States and West Germany, agreed to cooperate to hold currencies at around current levels. Officials said that wording represented a compromise. Miyazawa hopes the agreement will hold the yen stable for a few months, before it weakens later in the year. Japan wanted the Paris communique to imply a higher value for the dollar, perhaps by substituting the word "recent" for "current," while the United States wanted it to more clearly point to the dollar's weaker levels now, perhaps by use of the word "present," they said. In the months leading up the February 22 agreement, the dollar dropped some 10 yen. The officials also sought to discredit suggestions in the market that recent U.S. Action to prevent the dollar from rising above 1.87 marks pointed to a 153 to 155 yen ceiling for the U.S. Currency. Japan has also attacked OECD forecasts, which it says do not take account of the structural changes in the Japanese economy that will be triggered by the strong yen. Officials said there are already signs of that. More and more companies have announced plans to move production facilities offshore to take advantage of cheaper costs abroad, they said.