By JUNKI WATANABE/ Staff Writer
December 22, 2020 at 18:30 JST
The Bank of Japan headquartered in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Financial assets held by households surged to a record high 1,901 trillion yen ($18.38 trillion) in the July-September quarter, as the COVID-19 pandemic dampened spending and promoted savings, the Bank of Japan said on Dec. 21.
It was a year-on-year increase of 2.7 percent.
“Cash and deposits” rose by 4.9 percent from the same period last year to 1,034 trillion yen, both a record amount and the sharpest increase since 2005, when comparable data became available.
“Investment trusts” were up by 1.6 percent, the first year-on-year growth in three quarters, caused by a rebound in stock prices from their plunge in March, when the novel coronavirus was spreading across Japan.
“Stocks and others” decreased by 1.8 percent year on year. However, the rate of decline has slowed since those assets shrank by 15.6 percent in the January-March period.
The BOJ’s balance of government bond holdings increased by 8.3 percent year on year to a high of 542 trillion yen as of the end of September. It was 45.1 percent of the total government bonds issued, also a record.
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