Keidanren Chief Calls for Boosting Japan’s Growth Potential

Tokyo, June 4 (Jiji Press)–Japan Business Federation Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui has stressed the importance of “steadily boosting” growth potential of the country’s economy. For that purpose, the country needs to build an “investment-driven economy” through corporate capital spending, research and development investment, and human investment such as wage hikes, Tsutsui said at the top Japanese business lobby’s annual general meeting held in Tokyo on Wednesday. In a video message sent to the meeting, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed hopes for aggressive investment exceeding Keidanren’s target of 200 trillion yen in domestic private investment in fiscal 2040. The group set the target last year. As the ongoing Middle East turmoil has revealed vulnerabilities in Japan’s energy procurement, Tsutsui said, “Using carbon-free energy sources is increasingly important,” adding, “It is particularly vital to accelerate the restart of idled nuclear power reactors.” At a press conference after the meeting, Tsutsui, responding to Takaichi’s call for larger investment than the Keidanren-set target, said that the target is “ambitious” and is “not infeasible.” Still, he added, “Unless the private sector has an ambition to go beyond the target, we would be unable to wipe away the trend toward contractionary equilibrium that has been entrenched in the country over the past 30 years.” On Keidanren’s future policy proposals to the government, Tsutsui said, “We are determined to call for painful reforms,” such as an overhaul of the social security system, that have not been fully implemented. At the general meeting, six people, including Yuji Fukasawa, chairman of East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, and Reiko Akiike, co-head for Japan at Boston Consulting Group, were picked as new vice chairs of Keidanren. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]