Mar 15, 2020 (Nikkei) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will inject "necessary and sufficient" funds into the economy and use "unprecedented ideas" to bring back growth.
Abe gave no details during a rare Saturday news conference called to explain his government's response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, though he said fiscal and monetary policies would be used on the economic front.
The pandemic has constrained the global economy and Japan's along with it, sinking the stock market and throttling business activity. Abe said that while the priority is to prevent the spread of the virus, the government's "unprecedented ideas" will result in bold measures.
The prime minister added that the government will listen to regional voices to come up with the details.
He also pledged to coordinate with other global leaders.
"As the global economy is shaking," he said, "we need to take measures in cooperation with G-7 and G-20 countries."
As to the uncertainties that the pandemic is casting onto the Tokyo Olympics, now a little more than four months away, Abe said that "in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, we hope to overcome the virus and hold [the event] as planned." He also said that prospects for "postponing or canceling were not raised at all in a talk" with the U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday.
Japan earlier this week enacted a law enabling Abe to declare a state of emergency if the outbreak escalates. The prime minister said Japan has managed to control the pace of transmissions compared to other countries and therefore this "is not the right time to declare [an emergency]."
