Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 16th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, there was an 'intensive discussion on monetary policy, commodity prices, and other matters,' followed by discussions on 'budget overview,' and 'future initiatives for the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy."

Based on the discussions, the Prime Minister said,

"During the recent House of Councillors election, I consistently stated with regard to the economic policies that we are advancing, that this is the only path forward, and that this is the correct path. I said to the people, 'Once the real economy sees conclusive improvement and we can gain your further support, we will be able to deliver to you a real sense of improvement.' As a result of the election, I believe we succeeded in gaining support for the policies that we are advancing.
Now our mission is to steadily deliver, throughout the country, the sense of improvement that we promised to the people through the election. In this sense, I believe it is crucial that we accelerate our work to specify the policies so that the people can strongly experience that economic recovery is taking place.
Today, Governor Kuroda showed us that efforts to overcome deflation are steadily being advanced. I ask that continued efforts be made so that we may achieve the price stability goal of 2%.
I ask that, under the leadership of Minister Amari, the Government work to boldly implement and accelerate the Japan Revitalization Strategy, and to powerfully promote economic revitalization.
Additionally, the Council members presented us with the 'budget overview.' I ask that the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy continue to serve as a control tower for economic and fiscal policies, to specify efforts to achieve both economic revitalization and fiscal soundness. Thank you."