Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the New Year Party by Jiji Press held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his address,

"This year as well, I want to continue to place the utmost priority on the economy, encouraging even stronger growth in the economy of Japan. That is why we will raise consumption tax from 5% to 8% in April. This is important for responding to the growing cost of social security, and is being done to fulfill our responsibility to pass on to the next generation a social security system that Japan can be proud of before the rest of the world.
Furthermore, consumption tax will be used to enhance support for childcare, and at the same time, we must not let go of the chance that we have finally seized to potentially overcome deflation. For these reasons, we will implement measures amounting to 5.5 trillion yen for our business climate and economy, as well as 1 trillion yen in tax measures.
Moreover, many corporations have responded to our calls and are now right in the middle of making a grand decision that will see wages rise at many corporations from April.
I very much hope that corporations will make that decision, as this will realize a positive cycle of the economy in which the increase in wages will lead to a further expansion of consumption, which will in turn bring about a rise in corporate profits and further capital investments.
I want to make this ordinary session of the Diet a session for realizing this positive cycle."