Prime Minister Shinzo Abe maintained Wednesday that his top priority for the new year will continue to be the economy and that he will first try to have the Diet enact the fiscal 2017 budget as quickly as possible.

"This year, too, the economy comes first," Abe said during the year's first news conference in Ise, Mie Prefecture, after visiting Ise Shrine in the city.

"To accelerate Abenomics and have the economy steadily grow is the mission given for us," Abe said. "And the biggest economic measure will be early enactment of the next fiscal year's budget.