Net external assets of Japan declined for three consecutive years in 2017 following the increase of gross overseas debt, outrunning the asset gains but still the biggest creditor nation over a period of 27 years, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Friday. The net value of government assets including corporate and consumers was accumulated to be 328 trillion yen or $3 trillion by the end of 2017. It has decreased to 2.3 percent than a year earlier compared to the 363 trillion yen recorded in 2017. Net external assets of Japan were bigger by 1.3 times held by Germany, surpassing China as the world’s second creditor with 261 trillion yen of net assets at the end of last year, added by the ministry. Gross external assets increase to 2.7 percent with recorded of 1,012 trillion yen due to the increase of direct investment overseas and foreign stock investment has exceeded the balance value which pushed the value of yen higher on foreign currency-denominated assets. Direct investment in the United States has attained a record of 55 trillion yen at the end of 2017 and gained around 2 trillion yen last year, treating as the top destination recorded for a third of the overall Japanese direct investment overseas. The overall external debt extended by 5.2 percent to 684 trillion yen as acquisitions of Japanese bonds soared because of foreign investors and higher prices of Japanese shares. The greenback lost 3.8 percent at 112.65 yen at the end of 2017 by the previous year while the euro increase to 135.07 yen by 9.4 percent of the EUR/JPY currency pair, according to the ministry.
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