[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 8th meeting in 2016 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, there was “intensive discussion related to monetary policy, commodity prices and other issues,” and discussion about “comprehensive economic and fiscal reform” and “preparation for the Basic Policies.”

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“In order to realize both a 600 trillion yen economy and the goal of achieving fiscal soundness by FY2020, in conjunction with measures for economic revitalization, we must carry out expenditure reform, treating no area as sacred or off-limits. 

Today, along with having discussions on important items of expenditure reform such as social security, social infrastructure development, and the administrative and financial systems of local governments, we have determined the framework of the Basic Policies. I would like you to accelerate efforts towards formulating the specific measures of the Basic Policies.

In regard to social security, we will make thorough efforts to improve visibility in the medical and nursing care fields, and by clarifying the actual state of benefit disbursements and inter-regional disparities, we will realize more effective and efficient benefits. To that end, I would like Minister Shiozaki to gather nationwide data on health insurance claims in the medical and nursing care fields, and to give a report to this Council on specific suggestions to improve the efficiency of expenditure related to social security benefits.

Regarding social infrastructure development, in conjunction with making town-planning more compact in response to the declining population, we will advance the integration and elimination of social infrastructure that has become less necessary.

With regard to the administrative and financial systems of local governments, we will accelerate efforts to entrust the functions of administrative procedure offices to the private sector and promote the greater use of IT in administrative procedures.
In all these reforms, horizontal rollouts of leading practices are a top priority. It is not enough to simply have each ministry and agency provide information.

While taking into account the perspectives of municipalities, each ministry and agency must thoroughly support the introduction of leading practices and broadly roll out such practices. I would like Minister Ishihara to lead initiatives that result in specific actions by municipalities, and efforts to formulate a focused budget, taking into consideration the discussions of this Council as well. Thank you.”