Press Conference by Prime Minister Ishiba regarding Discussions for the Enactment of the FY2025 Budget

(On the reaction of Prime Minister Ishiba to the agreement reached among the three parties, the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and the Japan Innovation Party, which exchanged a written agreement, and on how he intends to discuss with other opposition parties to ensure the enactment of the FY2025 budget)

A short while ago, the three parties, the LDP, Komeito and the Japan Innovation party, reached an agreement following sincere and active discussions on free education and social security reform. I express my sincere respect and gratitude to all those involved for their significant efforts in reaching this agreement. Let me repeat what I mentioned earlier. The main points of the agreement are as follows. Regarding so-called "free high school education," an overall framework will be presented by the time the "Basic Policy 2025" is formulated, with the hope that it will be materialized in the FY2026 budget formulation process. From FY2026, income requirements will be eliminated, and the subsidy for private high school students will be increased to 457,000 yen. As a preliminary measure for FY2025, the current income requirement for the 118,800 yen subsidy will be effectively eliminated. Regarding so-called "free school lunches," this initiative is planned for implementation in FY2026, initially focusing on elementary schools, while taking local conditions into account. Subsequently, we aim to expand this program to junior high schools as soon as possible. In realizing these measures, we plan to secure stable financial resources through thorough fiscal and administrative reforms by the entire Government. We believe it is necessary to secure these resources through measures on both the expenditure and revenue fronts, without postponing the burden to future generations. In order to realize the reduction of the burden on the people through social security reform, we will establish a consultative body of the three parties and fully examine the issues within the budget formulation process by the end of 2025, with some feasible measures being put into practice from FY2026. Regarding the so-called " barrier of 1.3 million yen," we plan to implement measures to support business owners starting in FY2025. While we are proceeding with discussions with other parties, we will consult with the ruling parties regarding budget revisions based on the details of this agreement. Furthermore, we will seek to enact the FY2025 budget and the FY2025 tax reform law as early as possible within the current fiscal year. We believe that the sincere policy discussions that we had beyond party lines were very significant. The Government, together with the three parties, the LDP, Komeito, and the Japan Innovation Party, are committed to making every effort to realize the agreed policy items.

(On how Prime Minister Ishiba will handle the issue of raising of the " barrier of 1.03 million yen," which is being discussed with the Democratic Party for the People, as well as the revision of the high-cost medical expense system, proposed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan)

Regarding the " barrier of 1.03 million yen," we will continue discussions based on the agreement of the three parties. Regarding the high-cost medical expense system, we made the decision to partially freeze the revision in light of the opinions expressed by the opposition parties and patient groups. We will make further efforts to gain understanding for this matter.