Ex-defence minister Ishiba tops corporate Japan’s premier wish list: Reuters poll

TOKYO – Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba is corporate Japan’s top choice to replace Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, edging out Ms Sanae Takaichi, who strives to become the nation’s first female premier, a Reuters survey showed on Sept 12.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is set to

hold an election on Sept 27

to pick its next leader, who will become the prime minister given the party’s control of Parliament. Mr Kishida will not run in the race.

The winner will be tasked with leading the LDP to victory in a Lower House election that could take place as early as in 2024 and working closely with the next president of key ally the United States amid China’s economic and military expansion.

About 24 per cent of respondents named Mr Ishiba as the most desirable candidate, compared with 22 per cent for Ms Takaichi, who is Economic Security Minister, and 16 per cent for former environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the 43-year-old son of former premier Junichiro Koizumi.

Mr Ishiba generally fares better than Mr Shinjiro Koizumi in public opinion polls, but Mr Koizumi has often come out on top among LDP supporters.

Mr Ishiba has held Cabinet portfolios for agriculture and reviving local economies, besides serving as defence minister and LDP policy chief.

The 67-year-old former banker has said that his top priority would be to achieve a clear exit from deflation and encourage investments in growth areas by both the public and private sectors.

“He has a wealth of experience. He seems to be the kind of person who will press ahead with reforms without paying heed to party factions,” a manager at a food company wrote in the survey.

Ms Takaichi, 63, is calling for strategic fiscal spending in cutting-edge technologies to drive the economy, while Mr Koizumi, who would be Japan’s youngest-ever leader if elected, plans to “basically carry over” Mr Kishida’s economic policies.

Mr Kishida focused on boosting household income by prodding businesses to hike wages and laid the groundwork for the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to phase out its monetary stimulus by appointing academic Kazuo Ueda as the central bank’s governor.

In the survey, rising prices topped the list of high-priority issues that the Japanese business community wanted the next prime minister to tackle, followed by fiscal reforms.

Japan is saddled with the industrial world’s heaviest debt load, at more than twice the size of its economy.

Nikkei Research reached out to 506 companies from Aug 28 to Sept 6 on behalf of Reuters for the survey, with 245 firms responding.

Rate hikes

On monetary policy, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they appreciated the BOJ’s rate hike in July, which took the short-term policy target to 0.25 per cent from a range of zero to 0.1 per cent.

Asked about the appropriate timing for an additional rate increase, 20 per cent picked December 2024 and 27 per cent chose the first quarter of 2025, while 21 per cent said they opposed any more rate hikes.

“With other countries cutting rates, we don’t really see the need to rush into another rate hike and weaken international competitiveness and companies’ earning power,” a manager at a machinery maker said in the survey.

About 29 per cent of respondents said a rate hike to around 0.5 per cent could affect their plans for raising funds and wages, while 11 per cent said a 0.75 per cent rate would have that effect and 27 per cent said a rate of about 1 per cent would be the threshold for such an impact. REUTERS