Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration will take "drastic" measures to revitalize the economy, Finance Minister Taro Aso pledged Thursday, suggesting that previous policies had been insufficient to beat back more than a decade of deflation.
"Deflation is a deep-rooted problem that has undermined the Japanese economy" because it has "hampered investment toward the future," Aso said in a speech to the Lower House.
To jack up the economy, he said the administration will push through what Abe calls his "three arrows" of flexible fiscal spending, aggressive monetary easing and growth strategies.