Responding to the criticism that the Hatoyama Cabinet lacks a growth strategy, the government on Dec. 30 unveiled the basic policy of its new strategy for economic growth titled "For a Shining Japan."
The government intends to achieve "economic growth driven by demand expansion" based on the idea of "the economy for people," overcoming heavy reliance on public works projects and market fundamentalism as pursued in the era of the Liberal Democratic Party administration.
The new strategy aims to attain annual growth rates of 3 percent in nominal terms and 2 percent in real terms respectively through fiscal 2020, raise nominal gross domestic product from an estimated ¥473 trillion in fiscal 2009 to about ¥650 trillion in fiscal 2020 and bring the unemployment rate down to around 3 percent.