[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 4th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2015 at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, discussions were held on realizing a positive cycle of the economy, focusing on wages and employment, as well as incentive reforms aimed at economic revitalization and fiscal soundness.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“As was reported today, improvements in companies’ liquidity and profits have been seen nationwide, while both corporate municipal tax and corporate business tax have been increased in all prefectures, which demonstrates that a positive cycle of the economy is getting underway in regions as well. Additionally, according to a survey by Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), wages have increased 2.59% this year, which exceeds that of last year, indicating that the employment and income environment continues to improve as well.

To initiate the second and third rounds of this positive cycle for the economy, we will encourage further investment and wage hikes, including by small- and medium-sized enterprises. We must also revitalize the service industry, which is an important pillar of support for regional economies. For this reason, the government will work with business and industry to implement the productivity improvement measures for the service industry and price increase measures finalized at the Government-Labor-Management Meetings and the Headquarters for Japan's Economic Revitalization.

Furthermore, we received a proposal from the new vantage point of incentive reform to encourage more efficient government spending aimed at the Plan for Achieving Fiscal Soundness. To achieve more efficient and higher quality public services, I hope to pursue further discussions on the subject of establishing a framework to encourage changes in mindset and behavior among the people, corporations and local governments.”