Japan – National Debt

Globally, Japan has one of the largest gross domestic products, making it among the largest economies in the world. 

Below is a graph analysing the trends of Japan's national debt as a percentage of their national gross GDP. In 2019, Japan had around $12.2 trillion USD in debt, which is around half the debt that the United States owes, however, in relation to the size of its economy, it is huge as it is around 240%. 

The global coronavirus epidemic has forced Japan to secure a large loan to support its citizens – for the fiscal year starting in April 2021, there will be a $1.03 trillion budget draft for the epidemic. 

Other than the global epidemic, wherein countries need to respond to their citizens' needs, Tokyo (Japan's capital) hosted the 2020 Olympics. This has caused Japan an estimated $15 billion USD. These costs included displacement costs (many Tokyo public housing were demolished to make room for the stadium). Many countries that previously hosted the Olympics also had increased costs other than the initial costs needed for hosting the games.

This current fiscal year, Japan will be issuing new Japanese government bonds (JGBs) worth approximately $1.018 trillion USD, more than double the amount in fiscal 2009 when the global financial crisis was occurring. Currently, the priority is to lessen the economic impact of the epidemic, as well support the citizens and pay COVID-related costs, however, the government is not yet thinking of how to pay the debt back.