Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he’ll create a route to allow funds to flow from the Government Pension Investment Fund — the world’s largest of its kind — to startups and venture capital.

In a Tuesday evening meeting on his administration’s "new capitalism" policies, he added that he would seek to attract individual and foreign investments in startups. Kishida plans to review the country’s IPO process to ensure that startups have access to sufficient funds, he said, and create campuses for such new businesses.

He didn’t provide details on the funding path involving Japan’s GPIF, the investment performance of which can be a political issue in one of the world’s most graying societies.

Kishida took office in October promising to pursue a new form of capitalism that would reduce disparities in society. Among other economic priorities he also vowed to bolster Japan’s startups, which attract just a small fraction of the funding raised globally.

The prime minister said he would strengthen nonfinancial disclosure by companies, adding that he aimed to have guidelines on this drawn up by the summer.

His panel on "new capitalism" is set to finalize its policies in June, just ahead of an Upper House election set for July — which could determine whether Kishida is dispatched through the "revolving door” that has seen many past prime ministers replaced after a year or so.

GPIF wrote by email that it wasn’t aware of the details of Kishida’s remarks. The organization can invest in venture capital funds under current regulations, but doesn’t disclose whether or not it has invested in such assets.

The GPIF has around ¥200 trillion ($1.6 trillion) in assets, which are currently divided evenly between domestic and foreign equities and bonds. While its policy is to allow up to 5% of its assets to be held in alternative investments, such as private equity, such investments accounted for only 0.92% of its holdings as of the end of December.

Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute, said he didn’t expect investments in startups or venture capital funds to improve GPIF’s investment returns much.

"It may be worth using the funds for the future of Japan,” he said. "It’s unclear whether that’s what the public wants. I think there are arguments on both sides.”