Executives' Comments  Press Conferences   Chairman Sakakibara's Statements and Comments
at His Press Conference

Sept. 8, 2014

Relationship with Politics

Keidanren's vice chairmen and I discussed the organization's basic stance on the relations with politics and gained consensus on the key issue today. We are going to make it clear officially after an important internal meeting on Sept. 11. It is extremely important for politics and business to tackle various pending issues hand in hand so that the Japanese economy can get out of deflation and sustainable economic growth can happen.

Keidanren will call on our members to make political donations as part of their social contributions based upon their own voluntary decisions.

The Japanese Economy

The GDP growth rate for the April-June period released by the Cabinet Office today is a downward revision which shows that Japan's economy has shrunk at an annualized rate of 7.1% from the previous quarter in real terms. The effects of the April consumption tax rate hike and inclement weather such as the summertime torrential rainfall had a significant impact on business. I am confident that the Japanese economy will remain on a moderate recovery trend although there are still some negative factors. The consumption tax rate should be raised as scheduled in October next year.