According to comprehensive Japanese media reports, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party the new president Fumio Kishida plans to nominate the 68-year-old former Olympic Minister Shunichi Suzuki as the finance minister of the new cabinet. This is the first time in nine years that the Japanese government has changed its Finance Minister. The previous Finance Minister had been concurrently held by Taro Aso . It is worth mentioning that Suzuki Shunichi is the younger brother of Taro Aso’s wife.
Shunichi Suzuki
Japan's longest-serving Finance Minister after the war
According to reports, 81-year-old Taro Aso has served as Japan's Finance Minister for about 9 years and is Japan's longest-serving Finance Minister after World War II. As Fumio Kishida comes to power to reorganize the cabinet, Taro Aso will take this opportunity to retire. Some analysts believe that although Taro Aso has played an important role on the international stage, the unresolved fiscal reconstruction issues during his term have not made progress due to the impact of the new crown epidemic. Therefore, these questions are also left to successors.
It is reported that since December 2012, Taro Aso has served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Shinzo Abe regime. He is Shinzo Abe's right-hand man and actively promotes "Abenomics" with bold financial policies, radical fiscal policies and growth strategies as the core. In September 2020, Taro Aso continued to serve as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Yoshihide Suga's cabinet.
In January 2013, Taro Aso and the Bank of Japan issued a joint statement to achieve the 2% price stabilization target at an early stage. In May 2020, he and Bank of Japan President Haruhiko Kuroda issued a joint statement on responding to the new coronavirus. During Taro Aso's tenure, Japan's consumption tax was raised twice, from 5% when he came to power to 10%. Mainly to cover the growing social security expenditures due to the declining birthrate and aging population. Despite this, after encountering multiple severe natural disasters and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Japan's debt balance exceeded GDP , and Japan's finances once deteriorated.
Taro Aso has indeed left his own footprints in the field of international finance. In February 2009, Taro Aso, then Prime Minister of Japan, decided to invest US$100 billion in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In addition, as the digitalization of the economy continues to deepen, in May 2013, Taro Aso proposed revising the international taxation rules established a century ago. The meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors held in October of the same year reached the final opinion.
Taro Aso has served as prime minister, foreign minister and other positions, and has rich diplomatic experience and extensive personal connections on the international stage. There are concerns within Japan's Ministry of Finance that if Taro Aso retires, it may affect Japan's presence on the international stage, and Japan has also lost an important leader.
The successor is the younger brother of Taro Aso’s wife.
According to Japanese media reports, Fumio Kishida appointed Taro Aso as the vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the successor to the Finance Minister is former Olympic Minister Shunichi Suzuki. The two major problems facing Shuni Suzuki are to restore Japan's economy, which has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and to comprehensively improve Japan's deteriorating finances.
It is understood that Suzuki Shunichi is the recommender representative of Kishida Fumio in this Liberal Democratic Party presidential election. In addition to serving as Japan's Olympic Minister, he also served as Deputy Foreign Minister, Environment Minister, and General Affairs Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party. Suzuki Shunichi's father is former Japanese Prime Minister Zenyukimoto Suzuki, who was also the founder of the "Hiroike Kai" led by Fumio Kishida. At the same time, Suzuki Shunichi was still Taro Aso’s brother-in-law. He has been elected to the Japanese Diet nine times.
In the House of Representatives election, Shuni Suzuki took a negative attitude towards the opposition party's proposal to reduce the consumption tax. In March 2020, Shunichi Suzuki, then general affairs chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, said: "Reducing the consumption tax will lead to a reduction in investment funds to support local development. It will have a huge impact on local innovation. The consumption tax is also a source of funds for free early childhood education. If the consumption tax is reduced, it may have a huge impact on early childhood education. Therefore, I am cautious."
According to Japanese media reports, Kishida Fumio will promote tens of trillions of economic measures within the year after taking office. Once passed, Suzuki Shunichi will face greater financial difficulties. Affected by the new crown epidemic, the Japanese government It is vigorously cutting various expenditures. The Japanese government aims to achieve a black-line basic fiscal revenue by 2025.
Analyst Ashikaga Masamichi of UBS Securities said that Suzuki Shunichi may adopt the same stance as Taro Aso. We will respect the opinions of Ministry of Finance officials and continue to support fiscal soundness, but it may not be fully implemented due to political pressure. In addition, Miwa Taku, chief economist of Nomura Securities , believes: "Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, Fiscal tightening is unlikely to happen anytime soon. He shouldn't make any major adjustments to his route after taking office. ”
Red Star News reporter, Luo Tian
editor, Pan Li
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