Japan’s central government debt stood at 1,044.59 trillion yen ($9.1 trillion) at the end of December, down 9.83 trillion yen from three months earlier, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
But the ministry expects the debt to reach a record 1,087.3 trillion yen by the end of the current fiscal year on March 31, reflecting ballooning social security costs in rapidly aging Japan.
According to the ministry, the latest total consisted of 902.20 trillion yen in government bonds, 55.05 trillion yen in borrowing, mainly from financial institutions, and 87.34 trillion yen in financing bills or short-term government notes of up to one year.
As of Dec. 31, per capita debt, the amount owed per head of population — stood at around 8.24 million yen, with Japan’s total population estimated at about 126.82 million as of Jan. 1.
The total debt was more than double the country’s nominal gross domestic product in fiscal 2013 of 489.6 trillion yen.
The government releases fiscal data every three months, compiled according to International Monetary Fund standards.
