Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi instructed his Cabinet on Friday to devise concrete reform measures on priority areas such as education, urban renewal, job creation within the public sector and deregulation of health care.
The priority reform program also features a plan to enable Resolution and Collection Corp., a government-affiliated body, to expand its purchases of problem loans held by banks in a bid to assist revitalization of the industrial sector.
Priorities include measures to boost the nation's flagging stock market, including overhauling the securities tax code.