The government will launch a system to support the promotion of relatively lesser-known local specialties nationwide within this year, as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to boost local economies, according to government officials.

Under the envisioned framework, officials say municipal governments will designate local specialties and the central government, in cooperation with local governments, will provide broad financial support to businesses that develop new products as local specialties and open up new markets for them.

The government will submit a bill to revise the law for promoting businesses of small and mid-size enterprises using local resources during an extraordinary Diet session this autumn, according to officials.

Boosting local economies is one of Abe’s areas of focus to realize his own Abenomics economic policy package. The envisioned scheme will be the first project to be carried out under this approach.

The central government already has a similar framework in place to assist with local specialty promotion, under which prefectural governments have designated about 14,000 items as “local resources.” Producers of such products are eligible for low-interest loans from government-affiliated financial institutions.

But under the envisaged framework, municipal governments will designate local specialties because they have a better grasp of their respective administrative areas than prefectural governments.

The new approach will enable municipal governments to select products that are already renowned within their areas, but lack exposure in others.

Municipal governments will also be able to designate their local agricultural and marine products, craftwork and local dishes for nationwide marketing.

The support system will expand the scope of eligible applicants for financial support beyond the limits of the current framework, which covers only producers of designated specialties, so loans will be available even to retailers and online business operators.

Regarding financial support for producers, the envisioned system will create a new program under which municipal governments will receive zero-interest loans from the central government. Producers will then be provided with zero- or low-interest loans over five to 10 years.

Eligible producers would be able to receive loans worth up to about 80 percent of their total expenses, when loans from the central and local governments are combined. This means, for example, that an eligible producer with a project costing ¥30 million would need to secure only ¥6 million as start-up capital.

Retailers and online business operators dealing with designated local specialties will also be able to receive low-interest loans and credit guarantees. Support will also be given for projects that promote designated local specialties online to boost their brand recognition.

The envisioned framework will likely stimulate joint public-private efforts for online promotions of local dishes known as B-level dishes, in a bid to follow the success of Fujinomiya yakisoba, or deep-fried noodles in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, which is now enjoying nationwide fame.

The annual B-1 Grand Prix, an event that promotes local areas through their respective B-class cuisines, has also helped other dishes rise out of obscurity, including Kofu torimotsu ni, stewed chicken giblets from Kofu; Hachinohe senbei-jiru, vegetable and flour cracker soup from Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture; and Tsuyama horumon udon, deep-fried udon with broiled pieces of beef entrails and vegetables from Tsuyama, Okayama Prefecture.

Hopes are high that the government-led initiative will encourage many areas nationwide to promote local products much as the local industrial association of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture has successfully boosted brand recognition of Imabari Towels by setting its own criteria to improve the local product’s quality.

Only half of such corporations have disclosed their financial statements. As stated in the draft report, it is imperative to make it obligatory for the corporations to make them public.