Biz World Wants Post-Abe Govt to Implement Growth Strategy

Tokyo, Aug. 31 (Jiji Press)--Hopes are growing in the business community that the administration succeeding the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will aggressively implement growth strategy. There are also growing calls for boosting assistance to small businesses sustaining regional economies, which have slumped due to the fallout from the novel coronavirus crisis. "We hope the next administration will also give its top priority to growth strategy," an official of a major machinery maker said. The administration of Abe, who announced on Friday his decision to step down, has focused on reviving the Japanese economy. But it is still halfway toward realizing recovery, held back by the COVID-19 crisis. "We want the next government to work with the business community to develop coronavirus vaccines and medicines," the official said, underlining the need to achieve economic recovery without stopping the fight against the virus. "Further assistance is necessary so that managers of small businesses become hopeful," the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in its requests to the government released Monday. Specifically, the JCCI calls on the government to expand financial aid and support the introduction of digital technologies to help small companies struggling with sales plunges amid the coronavirus crisis. Japan needs to work aggressively to revitalize regional communities, the JCCI said as the coronavirus outbreak underlined risks associated with the overconcentration of population and business in Tokyo. The chamber also sought government support so that tourism businesses outside Tokyo can create new business models. To the next government, how to reconstruct the strategy to make Japan a tourism-oriented country is likely to be a key issue. An official of a major plant builder expressed hopes for the continuation of stable diplomacy. In the automobile industry, which benefited from the yen's weakening under the Abe administration, many are waiting to see whether Japan can maintain a favorable relationship with the United States after the presidential election in November. "I wonder whether the next Japanese government will be able to maneuver amid U.S.-China tensions," an official of a major electronics maker said. END