[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 15th meeting in 2015 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, debate took place on “expanding and deepening the positive economic cycle,” “crystallizing comprehensive economic and fiscal reform,” and “childrearing support and the declining birthrate, etc.”

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Placing top priority on the economy, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy will lead efforts to promote initiatives for completely exiting deflation and achieving strong economic growth in the future. Recently we are seeing changes in financial and capital markets. It is crucial that we enlarge and deepen the positive economic cycle that is starting to appear through private sector demand. To that end, it is vital that we realize a continuous rise in wages, the promotion of efforts to make more workers regular employees, and the enlargement of private investment, to a level that is befitting the highest corporate earnings in history.
I wish to thoroughly share that opinion with all quarters. Moreover, the lessening of burdens on household finances, such as mobile phone charges, is a major issue. I would like Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi to promote thorough discussions on related policies and other relevant matters.

The FY2016 budget is the first budget under the Plan for Economic and Fiscal Revitalization. I want each ministry and agency to carry out reforms that treat no area as sacred or off-limits, including existing measures, and make these reforms deep-rooted. I also want to thoroughly promote reform that fundamentally changes the nature of public services, as well as institutional reform that results in reduced expenditures. First, concerning the framework for promoting priority issues, I would like Minister of Finance Aso to work together with Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Amari and request that each ministry and agency clarify the effects of each reform by the end of September , and, based on this, determine which expenditure reforms to accept or reject . With regard to the overall budget, through this and other efforts, I would like you to take a strict stance towards any requests for which the reform effects are vague.

The future of our children is the future of Japan. Private sector members have raised the point that childrearing support and measures to deal with the declining birthrate are both social issues as well as economic issues. First, we will compile support measures for single parent households and households with multiple children by the end of the year. Today we held discussions on a variety of subjects in relation to financial resources, including using the outcomes of Abenomics for social security finances and other matters. Building on that discussion, I would like all of the relevant ministers to discuss a policy package that integrates measures to secure stable financial resources.”