(Bloomberg) -- Shigeru Ishiba, one of the front-runners to become Japan’s next prime minister, said he would move quickly to put together measures to help the country escape deflation and boost growth if he becomes leader.
“Decisively beating deflation is a critical priority for our country,” Ishiba said at a press conference on Tuesday to lay out his policy goals ahead of a ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on Sept. 27.
Japan’s key inflation measure has been above the central bank’s 2% goal for more than two years but the government has yet to declare that the risk of falling back into deflation has been eliminated. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged an economic package for later in the year, but many of those seeking to replace him have been keen to make their own promises to support the economy.
In policy documents released at the same time as his press conference, Ishiba pledged investment in areas that would lead to stable growth, while continuing to improve the nation’s fiscal health.
He added he would work to lift wages to help boost tepid consumer spending, in line with Kishida’s goals, and said he’s thinking of discussing adjusting the sales tax rate for certain goods.
Ishiba, who has been supportive of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy normalization, said he would look into ways to support people with mortgages who might struggle because of rising interest rates.
Former defense minister Ishiba is currently one of the most popular choices among the public to become prime minister. The winner of the LDP election on Sept. 27 is virtually guaranteed of becoming Japan’s leader because of the party’s dominance in parliament.
In an apparent effort to differentiate himself from fellow candidate Shinjiro Koizumi, who is also popular with the public, Ishiba said that there was no need to loosen restrictions on firms’ ability to fire employees.
“I strongly believe that reducing economic inequality leads to growth,” the lawmaker said. Given the decline in population, “it’s more important to secure workers, and it’s important that labor rights are protected,” he said.
Koizumi has said he will submit a bill concerning labor restrictions next year.
Ishiba’s policy plans also include lifting the minimum wage and raising Japan’s energy self-sufficiency. In other areas, Ishiba said he would seek to move toward an Asian-style NATO to better ensure the security of Japan and its allies in the region, and work to make the US-Japan security partnership more equal.
Ishiba said he would also target the creation of Asia’s largest startup hub. His plans contained few specific details about how he would go about achieving his goals.
--With assistance from Takashi Umekawa.
(Adds more on policy plans and Ishiba’s remarks.)
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