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On July 6, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 10th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2018 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on the Mid-year Economic Projection, budget overview and guidelines for FY2019 budget requests.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, following the announcement of the Mid-year Economic Projection, we discussed possible directions for the guidelines for budget requests, based on a blueprint of next fiscal year’s budget proposed by private sector members.
 
We need to respond swiftly and effectively to fluctuations in demand, which could be expected in response to the increase in consumption tax on October 1, 2019. To that end, we have decided to include temporary special measures in the preliminary budgets for the next and the following fiscal years. In this regard, we have also decided to deal with these measures separately from the overall budget requests so that we could give them due consideration as part of the budget formulation at the end of this year. I would like the relevant ministries and agencies to ensure that we are able to start providing various supports, including making early childhood education free alongside the increase in consumption tax and to make sure to plan other necessary measures to stabilize fluctuations in demand.
 
Meanwhile, with regard to the budget for next fiscal year, it will be the first fiscal year of the new fiscal revitalization plan outlined in the Basic Policy. I would like this Council to continue discussions to ensure that we can formulate a streamlined budget.”