WORLD
Abe to keep putting highest priority on economy in 2017
Baku, January 5, AZERTAC
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he will continue to place his highest priority on the economy this year, aiming to pull Japan out of the deflation that has dominated the country’s economic narrative for the past two decades.
“Our top economic policy is the swift enactment of the budget for the next fiscal year,” Abe said at a New Year press conference in Ise in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, after visiting the Ise Grand Shrine in the city earlier in the day.
“Our mission is to solidly grow the economy while advancing ‘Abenomics,’” he said, referring to his administration’s economic policy package of aggressive monetary easing, massive government spending and structural reforms.
Abe said the next ordinary Diet session will convene Jan. 20 and will be aimed at “opening up (Japan’s) future.”
The prime minister said he is “not thinking at all of dissolving” the House of Representatives for an election, which he has the discretion to do at any time.
Abe also said his administration will proceed with “new nation-building” in 2017 as Japan marks the 70th anniversary of its post-World War II Constitution, a document he has long sought to revise.
“Now is the time to look to the future, in anticipation of the next 70 years, and proceed with new nation-building,” Abe said.
“We, who are living today, must learn from our predecessors of 70 years ago who built postwar (Japan), face our challenges head-on and fulfill our responsibilities for the future,” he said.