The ruling coalition parties, LDP and Komeito, has reached an agreement on lowering the effective corporate tax rate to 29.97% in fiscal year 2016, reports Nikkei (J) on December 3rd. The new rate represents a drop of more than 2% from the current 32.11% rate, and would bring the country on par with countries such as Germany. The Abe-government has speeded up the reduction to increase the international competitiveness of Japanese enterprises and stimulate economic activity. However, while undercutting the US tax rate of 40.75% by a large margin, the rate is still substantial higher than neighbouring South-Korea or the UK.