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On March 10, 2020, the Prime Minister held the second meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2020 at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, an intensive discussion was held on monetary policy, commodity prices and other issues, as well as a discussion regarding the promotion of efforts to deal with the declining birthrate, women’s empowerment, and the Work Style Reform 2.0 in an integrated manner.

Based on the discussions, the Prime Minister said,

“Today, we first held an intensive discussion on monetary policy and commodity prices.

As the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading across the world, it has also had a considerable impact on the Japanese economy. Firstly, with the recognition that preventing the spread of domestic infections does minimize the negative impact on the economy, we intend to exhaust all possible efforts in this regard. In addition, for the time being, it is important to prioritize employment and business continuity along with the prevention of the spread of infections. Just earlier, we approved the second batch of emergency response measures.

We will immediately implement a series of measures, including thorough prevention of infections; interest-free, unsecured liquidity support; support for those taking leave through a new subsidy scheme; and substantial expansion of Employment Adjustment Subsidies. Alongside this, we will sustain the economy by swiftly implementing the 26-trillion-yen comprehensive economic measures that have been formulated in preparation for the downward risks of our economy. We will continue to carefully assess domestic and overseas economic trends as well as the impact on the lives of the public, and implement necessary and sufficient economic and fiscal policies without hesitation in a timely manner.

I ask Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Nishimura, in collaboration with the relevant ministers, to respond thoroughly and exert every effort for macroeconomic management.

Next, we held a discussion regarding efforts to deal with the declining birthrate, women’s empowerment, and work style reform.

Overcoming each of these policy issues is an indispensable part of our efforts to build a bright future for the economy and society. The Abe Cabinet has, to date, made great efforts to resolve these issues. In particular, we are facing a difficult situation regarding the declining birthrate, with the number of births at just 860,000 last year.

As proposed today, it is more effective to approach these three issues in an integrated manner. Hence, I would like to ask Minister Eto, Minister Hashimoto, and Minister Kato to work together and strongly advance the relevant initiatives.”