http://www.reuters.com/article/econo...T2258720070524
Japan's net external assets rose to a record high in 2006, government data showed on Friday, keeping it the world's largest creditor nation for the 16th straight year.
Japan's overseas assets rose 10.3 percent from a year earlier to a record 558.106 trillion yen ($4.598 trillion) last year as domestic investors increased foreign asset holdings, with their value inflated by a weaker yen, Ministry of Finance data showed.
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Japan's net external assets rose 19.0 percent to 215.081 trillion yen, growing for the first time in two years and exceeding a record high marked in 2004.
While some countries like China and several Middle East nations do not release comparable data, Japan's net external assets far exceed those of Germany, which were the world's second largest at 87.873 trillion yen at the end of 2006.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...C0A9609482 60
Japan Is Top Creditor
May 28, 1986
Japan has become the world's largest creditor nation, surpassing Britain and other industrialized nations, the Finance Ministry said in an annual report today. The country's assets in other nations at the end of 1985 totaled $437.7 billion, while liabilities amounted to $307.9 billion. That left Japan with net assets of $129.8 billion, almost twice the amount at the end of 1984.