Japan’s current-account surplus has meant that it hasn’t needed to rely on foreign capital to finance its budget deficits, unlike the U.S. Foreign buyers hold about less than 10 percent of the public debt, compared with almost half for the U.S. Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds were at 1 percent, among the world’s lowest.
A legacy of years of trade surpluses has left Japan as largest net holder of external assets, a position it had for a 20th straight year in 2010, with a position of 251.5 trillion yen, according to the finance ministry. Figures for 2011 are due in May. China is second-largest, according to the ministry.
Japan has moved into trade deficit for the first time since 1980, according to the story at Bloomberg here.
