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On December 5, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 13th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2019 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, discussions were held on social security, which is a thematic topic of accelerating economic revitalization and fiscal consolidation in a holistic manner, and the Basic Principles of FY2020 Budget Formulation.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today we first held a discussion on the social security reform. The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy have held three sessions to deliberate on social security since autumn, from the perspective of accelerating the trinity of economic revitalization, fiscal consolidation and social security reform in an integrated manner. I would like Minister Kato, Minister Nishimura and related ministers to reflect thoroughly the Council’s discussions until now into the budget formulation for next fiscal year towards the end of the year.
 
Afterwards, we had an inquiry and response session regarding the Basic Principles of FY2020 Budget Formulation, and Minister Nishimura also briefed us about the Comprehensive Economic Measures to Create a Future with Security and Growth. The Government must exert every effort to secure people’s lives and safety in response to the consecutive natural disasters. It must be fully prepared as the risks in the prospects in our economy, which originated from the world economy, are looming. It also must exert efforts to take on the challenges to the future, aiming at Society 5.0. We must not let this opportunity go. Now is the time when we must accelerate Abenomics and work to overcome these issues. With this in mind, we must compile a seamless fiscal policy of robust scale that mixes this fiscal year’s supplementary budget with the temporary special measures included in the budget for the next fiscal year. I would like the Minister of Finance and the relevant ministers to proceed with formulating an effective 15-month budget, in line with the Basic Principles of Budget Formulation we are to finalize later today.”