TOKYO – Japan’s prime minister promised to cut public debt and raise taxes, while reaching out to the opposition for help in tackling the multitude of problems facing the country.
Yoshihiko Noda, who became Japan’s sixth premier in five years early this month, did not offer any specific new policies in his first speech to parliament since taking office. But he maintained that the government and the central bank needed to do everything possible to tame the yen’s strength, which is driving manufacturers abroad and threatening to stunt recovery from a slump triggered by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
The 54-year-old former finance minister takes over six months after the disaster ravaged the country’s northeast, leaving 20,000 dead or missing and triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
The government has yet to bring the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant under control, while Mr Noda needs opposition help in a divided parliament to secure funding for Japan’s biggest rebuilding effort since the end of the second World War.
“Let me ask from the bottom of my heart for the participation of each party in policy debate on social security and tax reforms, so that we can form a consensus necessary for the Bills’ passage,” he said.
The government is expected to submit the main reconstruction funding Bill, which is likely to exceed 10 trillion yen, to parliament next month. Sprinkling his speech with references to “hope and pride”, Mr Noda called on the country to look to the future.
“While overcoming the twin crises of the ‘Great East Japan Earthquake’ and the global economic crisis, we must invest in this country’s future so people are filled with hope and each and every citizen can be proud and feel ‘I am glad I was born in this country’.” Mr Noda, who hails from the more conservative wing of his Democratic Party, also urged Japan not to turn inward as it grappled with domestic challenges. He called for deeper ties with security ally Washington and urged China to play a role as a “responsible member of international society”.
Mr Noda took over the prime ministerial reins, with high support ratings of 60 per cent or more, from Naoto Kan.
But the new cabinet got off to rocky start as his trade minister was forced to quit after just eight days in office following reports he joked with reporters on the sensitive subject of radiation during his trip to the Fukushima area.
The opposition has said it would grill Mr Noda on his personal choices and the call for co-operation met with a cool reception from the biggest opposition group, the Liberal Democratic Party. However, the second-largest opposition party, New Komeito, sounded more welcoming.
“I would like his cabinet and the ruling party to share his resolution and do their utmost in tackling issues. If we can feel their determination, we would be happy to respond,” party head Natsuo Yamaguchi said.
Mr Noda stressed that curbing the public debt, twice the size of the $5 trillion economy, could not wait, and economic growth was necessary to salvage public finances creaking under the strain of a growing army of retirees.
Higher taxes, spending cuts and higher revenues from economic growth were needed to achieve fiscal reforms, he said. Mr Noda said the government planned to prepare a new growth strategy by the end of the year and a new energy policy by summer 2012 to better account for the impact of the March disaster and radiation crisis on the economy. – (Reuters)