TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio said Tuesday that his government will draw up a new six-year program aimed at pursuing both economic growth and fiscal reform.

Kishida unveiled the plan at a meeting of his Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. The program through fiscal 2030 will focus primarily on economic growth while aiming to achieve fiscal soundness by increasing tax revenue.

The government plans to adopt the new program this month together with its annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines.

Private-sector members of the council urged the government to stick to its goal of bringing the combined primary budget balance of the central and local governments to a surplus in fiscal 2025, when the new program starts.

Kishida said, “achieving the target is within sight.”

The members from the private sector also called on the government to set a new fiscal health goal under the new program after realizing a primary budget surplus, in a bid to ensure the sustainability of the country’ social security systems.

The government’s current economic and fiscal reform program, which covers fiscal 2019-2025, includes the primary budget surplus target for the final year.

The private-sector panel members also urged the government to remain committed to stably lowering the proportion of the country’s outstanding debts to gross domestic product under the new program.

“We will promote public-private investments as well as boost productivity” to help the Japanese economy grow over 1 pct stably on an inflation-adjusted basis, Kishida said.

The private-sector panel members asked the government to return its expenditure structure to normal after its spending has ballooned due to measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. But they underlined the need for flexibility in fiscal spending when the country’s economy deteriorates temporarily.

The government presented a draft of its economic and fiscal policy guidelines, featuring measures to achieve higher income and wages to help the economy move to a new growth stage by fully defeating deflation.

JIJI Press