Japanese premier vows to "rocket-start" struggling economy

Tokyo - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that he is determined to "rocket-start" Japan's flagging economy.

"Our party bears a heavy responsibility. We must first respond to people’s calls for revitalizing the economy with definite results,"he told his Liberal Democratic Party’s first meeting of the year.

The LDP unseated the Democratic Party of Japan in December parliamentary elections as Abe promised stimulus measures and called for "unlimited" monetary easing by the Bank of Japan.

Abe also told the party that the upper house election due by mid-year would have an important bearing on stable governance, as the LDP and its smaller coalition partner, the New Komeito party, are short of a majority in the chamber.

"Voters have significant expectations of us. This means we will be unable to win the upper house election (in July) if we disappoint them," he said.//DPA