Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will shift his policy focus to domestic challenges, including boosting the country’s economy, following diplomatic events in New York last week, in an effort to improve his political fortunes.

Early this week, Kishida will unveil an outline of economic measures and order his ministers to flesh out details. He plans to release the measures in October.

The economic measures will include addressing high prices, accelerating wage growth and investment, launching social reform aimed at combating a falling population and ensuring the people’s safety and security, according to Kishida.

“This autumn, I will commit to economic measures that place importance on two areas, namely structural wage growth, and public and private investments for enhanced sustainability,” Kishida said in a speech in New York on Thursday.

In addition, Kishida will convene the first meeting of government officials as early as this week to discuss ways to fight dementia, an effort that he describes as a national project. He also plans to launch a package of measures to reduce social security burdens on child-rearing households.

Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Sept. 13, about a week before departing for New York to attend a session of the U.N. General Assembly. In a press conference in New York on Wednesday, he said that he will lead the new cabinet to focus on issues that cannot be left unaddressed.

Those efforts may not help to lift Kishida’s public approval ratings that have been at their lowest levels since he took office in October 2021, however, political analysts said.

His aides are concerned about potential scandals or verbal gaffes by cabinet ministers that will deal a severe blow to his administration.

A Liberal Democratic Party branch headed by economic security minister Sanae Takaichi had received donations from a public works contractor just before the 2021 general election, people familiar with the matter said last week.

The public offices election law bans contractors of public works ordered by the central government from making political donations linked to a national election.

Kishida was forced to dismiss four cabinet ministers due to political funding and other scandals after he previously reshuffled his cabinet last year. If such scandals emerge again, he will face considerable headwinds.

JIJI Press