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On January 30, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the second meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2019, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, intensive discussion was held on monetary policy, commodity prices, and other issues, followed by a discussion on medium-to-long term economic and fiscal management.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we first held intensive discussion on monetary policy, commodity prices, and other issues. It is expected that the Japanese economy will continue to recover at a moderate pace as the employment and income situation is still improving. Meanwhile, we need to be mindful of world economic risks. I would like to ask Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Motegi to take all possible measures for macroeconomic management, further expand the virtuous cycle of growth and distribution, and exert every effort to further ensure that the economic recovery remains firmly on track.    
 
In addition, we discussed medium-to-long term economic and fiscal management after the report from the Cabinet Office regarding the results of the economic and fiscal projections for medium to long term analysis. As was proposed by our experts, it is important to increase productivity while encouraging investment in capital and labor, and strengthen the growth potential of the economy. I ask that the Council discuss this point further.
 
The Abe Cabinet gives the highest priority to the economy. Taking the opportunity of the Rugby World Cup this year and the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, we will continue to advance steadily towards the largest nominal GDP in postwar history of 600 trillion yen.”