[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 12th 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 Economic and Fiscal Projections for Medium to Long Term Analysis, and on the overall scheme for the FY2018 budget and the FY2018 Guidelines for Budget Requests.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Today we had a discussion on the economic and fiscal projections for medium- and long-term analysis, and the approach to the FY2018 budget.

We have confirmed that the steady implementation of expenditure reform and sustainable economic growth are essential to achieve fiscal soundness.

Furthermore, in order to sustain economic growth, our task is to increase potential growth. In this regard, our top priority is to implement supply-side reforms through work style reform as well as investments in human resources and productivity improvements.

Based on the overall scheme for the FY2018 budget that was compiled today, we will create a focused budget for FY2018 by eliminating wasteful budgets and ensuring priority-based budgeting that allocates funds to truly necessary measures, such as investments in human resources and productivity improvements. I ask for the cooperation of Minister Aso, Minister Ishihara, and other relevant ministers.”