Japanese Prime Minister wants to create a “happiness index”, according to Japanese media
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will propose a new index to measure happiness in his first speech to Parliament on Friday, Japanese media reported.
The index is expected to be proposed alongside Mr Ishiba’s plans for the economy and tackling the country’s declining population.
Mr. Ishiba, 67, became prime minister on Tuesday after winning a hotly contested vote for leadership of the ruling party last week.
He said he intended to call early elections on October 27 to consolidate his mandate to pursue a policy of greater support for regional governments and low-income households.
According to public broadcaster NHK and other national media, Mr. Ishiba will likely renew his promises to fight inflation and announce a plan for a new monetary stimulus of activity.
The yen jumped last Friday after the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Mr. Ishiba as party leader because he largely supported the Bank of Japan’s decision to end its ultra-curious monetary policies. -accommodating.
But he told reporters late Wednesday that he didn’t think the environment was right for further interest rate hikes, sending Japan’s currency plunging again.
The prime minister is also expected to announce plans to raise Japan’s average minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($10.22) by 2030, from the current 1,055 yen, local media reported.
These attempts to shore up the GDP per capita of the world’s fourth-largest economy are part of its plan to raise the happiness level of the Japanese, they said.
He is also expected to call the rapidly aging population a “silent crisis” that “affects the heart of our nation,” according to NHK.
Mr. Ishiba is expected to discuss plans to launch a new disaster management ministry in the earthquake- and flood-prone country, and stress the importance of nuclear power, a highly sensitive subject in Japan.
It is supported by the business lobby, but the population remains wary after the disaster triggered by the Fukushima tsunami in 2011.
Takahide Kiuchi, an executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute and a former Bank of Japan board member, said Ishiba’s speech would be heavily colored by electoral considerations.
“It appears that the Ishiba government is prioritizing winning the elections and consolidating its power base,” he said.
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