JAPANESE POLITICS
Education tops list for re-elected Shinzo Abe
Japan’s rapidly ageing population threatens to undermine Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to reflate the economy
Tokyo — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to make education and childcare a priority over balancing the budget after winning a new mandate from voters on Sunday, as a rapidly ageing population threatens to undermine his efforts to reflate the economy. Abe’s ruling coalition scored a landslide victory at the polls, boosted by his campaign promises to invest heavily in education and childcare, aimed partly at encouraging more women to join the workforce. Abe also made clear he would continue to press cautious Japanese firms to spend their record cash piles on boosting employees’ wages to stoke a virtuous growth cycle. With his "Abenomics" recipe centred on hyper-easy monetary policy likely to continue, Abe’s solid election win also raised expectations that he would reappoint Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda in early April when his five-year term expires. Abe’s election victory lifted world stocks and the dollar on Monday, sending Japan’s Nikkei share average to 21-yea...
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