Former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo, Japan, September 6, 2024.
Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is Japan’s business community’s top choice to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, beating Sanae Takaichi, who is seeking to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will hold elections on September 27 to choose its next leader, who will become prime minister given that the party controls parliament. Masaru Kishida Not running in the game.
The winner will be tasked with leading the LDP to victory in lower house elections that could be held as early as this year and working closely with the next president of the United States, a key U.S. ally, amid China’s economic and military expansion.
About 24% of the respondents mentioned Stone field As the most desirable candidate, the Minister of Economic Security has an approval rating of 22% Gaoshi 16% is Shinjiro Koizumi43 years old, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
In opinion polls, Ishiba’s approval rating is generally higher than that of Koizumi, but Koizumi often ranks among the top supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party.
In addition to serving as defense minister and LDP policy chief, Ishiba also holds cabinet positions on agriculture and revitalizing the local economy.
The 67-year-old former banker said his first priority was to move away from deflation clearly and encourage public and private sector investment in growth areas.
A manager at a food company wrote in the investigation: “He has a lot of experience. He seems to be the kind of person who insists on reform regardless of party affiliation.”
Takaichi, 63, has called for strategic fiscal spending on cutting-edge technology to boost the economy, while former Environment Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to “basically continue” Kishida’s economic policies. leader.
Kishida focused on raising household incomes by prompting companies to raise wages, and appointed academic Kazuo Ueda as governor of the Bank of Japan, laying the foundation for the Bank of Japan to gradually withdraw its aggressive monetary stimulus measures.
Rising prices are the top issue that Japan’s business community hopes the next prime minister will solve, followed by fiscal reform.
Japan carries the industrial world’s heaviest debt burden, more than twice the size of its economy.
From August 28 to September 6, Nikkei Research contacted 506 companies on behalf of Reuters for the survey, of which 245 companies responded.
In terms of monetary policy, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they appreciated the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike in July, which raised the short-term policy target to 0.25% from a range of zero to 0.1%.
When asked about the appropriate time for further interest rate increases, 20% chose December 2024, 27% chose the first quarter of 2025, and 21% expressed opposition to further interest rate increases.
“With other countries cutting interest rates, we do not think it is necessary to rush to raise interest rates again, thus weakening international competitiveness and corporate profitability,” a manager at a machinery manufacturer said in the survey.
Some 29% of respondents said a rise in interest rates to around 0.5% could affect their plans to raise funds and wages, while 11% said an interest rate of 0.75% would have such an impact and 27% said Investors said that an interest rate of about 1.0% would be their threshold for raising funds and salaries.
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