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On May 29, 2020, the Prime Minister held the eighth meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2020 at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants held a discussion on the Basic Policy (for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform) , and on building a new normal for everyday life  (social infrastructure improvement ).

Following the discussions, the Prime Minister said,

“Today, we first discussed this year’s Basic Policy.

We recently lifted the state of emergency nationwide. Moving forward, we will work to balance the efforts to overcome this infectious disease with the revitalization of the economy .

Furthermore, we aim to create a high-quality economy and society by building a new normal for everyday life. In order to make a new normal take root and accelerate it, it is important that we do not reverse the evolution of Japanese society and that Japan becomes the front -runner of global efforts in exploring ways to create a new normal in the age of the coronavirus.

In this year’s Basic Policy, we will lay out the basic direction of the blueprint of an economy and society that Japan should aim for, in response to the changes caused by the novel coronavirus to the mindset of the people and the situation of the world.

In addition, two days ago, a Cabinet decision was made on the draft of the second supplementary budget for this fiscal year. The Japanese economy is facing the kind of severe situation that can be considered a once-in-a-century crisis , but if we implement appropriate economic and fiscal policies at the right time, we are confident that economic recovery will be certainly achieved Once the supplementary budget is enacted by the Diet, we will swiftly execute it.

Afterwards, we discussed social infrastructure improvement.

As was pointed out by the experts here, digitization and smart technology will be indispensable in every field in order for us to build a new normal for everyday life. This is true for social infrastructure improvement as well. Towards the formulation of the next Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development , I ask Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Akaba  to proceed with discussions, while ensuring, as a basic principle, that digitization and smart technology are incorporated in all future social infrastructure improvements.”