[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 17th meeting in 2015 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, there was an “intensive discussion related to monetary policy, commodity prices, and other issues (for the fourth time),” and discussion on “moving toward the second stage of Abenomics,” and “various matters pertaining to comprehensive economic and fiscal reform (education, culture, sports, science and technology; IT/BPR).”

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“In order to achieve the largest GDP in postwar history of 600 trillion yen in five years’ time, the business world needs to proactively implement appropriate policies for capital investments and wage increases, and the government must urgently consider measures that support these policies. 

By the end of November I would like Minister Amari to compile the measures that should be urgently implemented in order to realize a GDP of 600 trillion yen, taking into consideration the proposals from private-sector members received today. Furthermore, I would like this to be reflected in the first set of policies to be formulated by the National Council for Promoting the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens.

At today’s meeting, we initiated discussions on various matters related to expenditure reforms, toward implementing specific initiatives aimed at achieving both economic and fiscal revitalization in a comprehensive manner.

In the field of education, private-sector members pointed out that Japan is behind in terms of research that verifies the effectiveness of policies based on objective data. I would like Minister Hase to build a framework with a thorough PDCA process based on the scientific verification of the effectiveness of policies. 

The unstinting efforts of CIO Endo have also contributed greatly to the steady advancement of the standardization and simplification of processes related to the provision of national and regional public services, as well as the adoption of IT systems for such processes.

I would like to request all those involved to continue to exert efforts to ensure that these program reforms can be reflected in the roadmap and key performance indicators of the Plan for Economic and Fiscal Revitalization.”