[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties on the FY2016 Guidelines for Budget Requests at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussions were held on the FY2016 guidelines for budget requests.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“The economy is at its strongest point in a quarter of a century because of the initiatives of the Abe administration over the past two and half years. Additionally, we were able to create a budget where we will achieve our target of reducing the primary fiscal deficit by half. We must make further forward progress with initiatives aimed at both economic and fiscal revitalization.

The FY2016 budget is the first budget under the Plan for Economic and Fiscal Revitalization. The Abe cabinet has bolstered initiatives for expenditure reform and has focused boldly on the contents of the budget in an effort to crystallize this plan.

The FY2016 guidelines for budget requests adhere to this policy, and I ask for the extensive cooperation from the leadership of the ruling party and relevant cabinet members. Thank you very much.”