This Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi kept her principal ministers in place in a government reshuffle designed to consolidate the ruling coalition while preparing a controversial cut in the consumption tax.
Ms. Takaichi, who enjoys high popularity, nevertheless sought to retain the core of her team in order to signal the continuity of her policy, according to observers.
The Secretary General and government spokesperson, Minoru Kihara, was renewed in his post, as were Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
Commerce and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa, the main negotiator on tariff issues with the United States, and Minoru Kiuchi, the minister in charge of the growth strategy, a proponent of an active budget spending policy, were also reconfirmed in their roles.
“Without economic growth, we cannot maintain sustainable finances,” Takaichi told reporters, promising to continue pursuing her “responsible and proactive fiscal policy.”
Ms. Takaichi is facing rising inflation and a weak yen, while pursuing a controversial cut in the consumption tax on food products starting next year.
This reshuffle is also seen as a way to bolster her political capital ahead of the presidential election within her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), scheduled for next year.
“We will earn market confidence by strengthening communication” with voters and market players, by explaining her policy “with a high level of transparency,” she added, questioned about market concerns over the sustainability of her fiscal policy.
Ms. Takaichi has also entrusted the reins of regulatory reform to Hiroshi Nakatsuka, 70, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the LDP.
This faction formed an alliance with Ms. Takaichi’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party in October, but had until now chosen not to participate in her government.
