[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 11th meeting in 2017 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, there was discussion on the overall scheme for the FY2018 budget.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Today, we discussed the direction of the budget for FY2018. We received many opinions from private sector members on the promotion of expenditure and revenue reform and points to consider for the formulation of the budget. At our next meeting, I would like us to discuss the Guidelines for Budget Requests, among other matters.

Taking into consideration the proposals and opinions received today, I would like to ask the Ministry of Finance to prepare the draft Guidelines for Budget Requests for FY2018 based on the following basic policy. Firstly, in order to establish priorities within the budget, budget requests will be made for investments in human resources to bring about a human resources development revolution, as well as for measures contributing to productivity improvements in regional economies, small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the service sector, among other areas. Secondly, concerning items such as the approach to reforms to fundamentally enhance investments in human resources, including making early childhood education and child care free of charge at an early date, eliminating children on waiting lists, and promoting higher education, which were all identified for further discussion in the Basic Policies, a framework will be established allowing for separate discussions in the budget formulation process alongside discussions on financial resources.

We will work to formulate a robust budget, which will include expenditure reform to bring about a human resources development revolution, in order to realize a society in which all citizens are dynamically engaged in Japan.”