Japan PM aims for nominal GDP to reach 1,000 tril. yen in 2040
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday that Japan should aim to boost its economy to 1,000 trillion yen ($7 trillion) in nominal terms in 2040, instructing his ruling party executives to include it in a pledge for this summer's nationwide election, Kyodo reports.
The size compares with a nominal gross domestic product of around 600 trillion yen in 2024, which met a target set about a decade ago. Japan, however, had lost its status as the world's third-largest economy to Germany the previous year.
Ishiba said that while giving priority to ensuring that wage growth consistently outpaces inflation, his Liberal Democratic Party will seek to achieve an over 50 percent increase in average income in the same time frame.
The goals were set as the country's major political parties are looking at ways to woo voters with their campaign pledges for the House of Councillors, or upper house, election, with opposition parties calling for reducing the consumption tax to ease the pain of inflation on households.
"I wanted to share with Japanese people what specifically a strong economy will look like," Ishiba told reporters.
"I've instructed party executives to target nominal GDP of 1,000 trillion yen in 2040 and over 50 percent growth in average income at the top of our election promises" for the upper house contest, he added.
Nominal GDP shows the size of an economy in current prices.
Japan's economy expanded in 2024 when the country was reeling from the yen's persistent weakness and the resulting cost-push inflation.
In the run-up to this summer's upper house election, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the biggest opposition force, is seeking to temporarily remove the consumption tax on food, currently at 8 percent, and offer cash handouts.
Party leader Yoshihiko Noda said Monday that combatting inflation is a major theme for the upper house race, which will replace half of the 248-member chamber.
Ishiba, however, has taken a cautious stance on lowering the consumption tax rate on food as an inflation-relief measure.
The LDP's election chief Seiji Kihara said the party will consider "effective" cash handouts with the use of surplus tax revenue when it formalizes its election platform.
As reported previously, Japan aims to enlist 10 million in a rural support registry.
