Japan's gov't debt reaches record high by end of fiscal 2016

Japan's central government debt reached a record high of 1,071.56 trillion yen (9.4 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of fiscal 2016, the Japanese government said on Wednesday.

According to data from Japan's Finance Ministry, the central government debt as of March 31, 2017 consisted of 934.90 trillion yen in general bonds, 54.42 trillion yen in borrowings from financial institutions, and 82.24 trillion yen in financing bills.

The figure was up by 22.19 trillion yen from that at the end of fiscal 2015, with long-term general bonds over 10 years rising by 36.03 trillion yen to 610.8 trillion yen, according to the government data.

Meanwhile, outstanding government guaranteed debts stood at 40.28 trillion yen, down by 1.50 trillion yen from the end of fiscal 2016.

The Japanese government has been embattled by its heavy debt which continues to stand as the highest in the industrialized world, amounting to more than twice the size of Japan's economy.

The Abe administration has pledged to turn the government's primary balance deficit into a surplus by fiscal 2020, but the outlook seems slim, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to postpone the second round of the sales tax hike to October 2019.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has warned that Japan's debt pile could jump to 400 percent of GDP within three decades, if policymakers do not implement structural reforms and keep from piling on more debt (1 yen=0.00878 U.S. dollar). Enditem