Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attended a meeting of the Council on the State of the Economy held at the Prime Minister's Office.

Based on the discussion the Prime Minister said, "I believe that avoiding the hollowing-out of industries is the most important issue for our administration.
Here is the interim proposal for the comprehensive measures against the yen appreciation.
One of the measures will be cash-flow support for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). This is intended to alleviate the pain caused by the yen appreciation.
Another measure is to increase the subsidy for establishing new businesses within Japan. Increasing such a subsidy may encourage some companies which are contemplating the possibility of moving outside of Japan to remain instead. I think such a measure is necessary.
Additionally, we need to take advantage of the benefits of yen appreciation in terms of acquiring interests and purchasing natural resources overseas. Instead of just stopping people and companies from moving out of Japan, we should rather encourage them to venture into the world and maximize the benefit of the yen appreciation. I believe the interim proposal fully reflects these points."