Japan Debt Grows Forcing Abe to Get Real About Fiscal Reform

May 9, 2014 Share Print 0

Japan’s central government debt stood at 1,025.0 trillion yen ($10.08 trillion) as of the end of fiscal 2013, surpassing the previous year’s 991.6 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

The ministry also projected the debt would reach 1,143.9 trillion yen by the end of the current fiscal year starting April 1, putting pressure on the government to strive to restore Japan’s fiscal health, the worst among major developed economies.

According to the quarterly survey, the end-March total consisted of 853.8 trillion yen in government bonds, 55.5 trillion yen in borrowing mainly from financial institutions, and 115.7 trillion yen in financing bills, or short-term notes up to six months.

As of March 31, per-capita debt — or the amount owed per head of population — was about 8.06 million yen, based on Japan’s population of around 127.1 million as of April 1.

Japan’s public debt is more than 200 percent of gross domestic product. Central government debt topped 1,000 trillion yen for the fourth straight quarter.

The government releases fiscal data every three months compiled according to International Monetary Fund standards.

via Mainichi

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.