Japanese PM spells out grand vision but offers few specifics

Kishida vows to lead nation out of Covid-19 crisis, achieve ‘new form of capitalism’

- Walter Sim

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, laying out his grand vision for the country, borrowed buzzwords like wealth distribution, digitisation and climate change in his first policy address to Parliament yesterday .

He also vowed to lead Japan out of the Covid-19 crisis by “preparing for the worst” and putting together a stimulus package that includes grants for hard-hit businesses and higher wages for healthcare workers.

Yet his 25-minute speech contained few specifics on how he plans to achieve – or even fund – many of his long-term goals. Japan has the worst debt-to-gross domestic product ratio among advanced economies, at about twice the size of its economy.

He did not give the size of the stimulus package, though on the party election campaign trail he gave such ballpark figures as “tens of trillions of yen” and “at least 30 trillion yen (S$363.8 billion)”.