Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed his ministers Wednesday to compile new economic stimulus measures within the month, aiming to achieve goals that include boosting Japan's nominal gross domestic product to ¥600 trillion ($5 trillion) in five years' time.
"In order to achieve a postwar record high GDP of ¥600 trillion in five years, I would like the business community to actively engage in capital investment and wage increases," Abe told a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, adding that the government will assist companies in making such efforts.
The GDP goal set for fiscal 2020 represents an expansion of more than 20 percent from ¥491 trillion in fiscal 2014 ended last March, with skepticism already growing among economists over whether the target is achievable.