Japan's net external assets rose to a record 325 trillion yen ($3.2 trillion) as of the end of last year as a weak yen boosted the value of overseas holdings, making the country the world's biggest creditor nation for 23 years in a row, the finance ministry said. The value of net assets held by the Japanese government, businesses and individuals exceeded the previous year's 296 trillion yen, which was a record under comparable data going back to 1996, ministry officials said.
Japan's net external assets were more than 1.5 times those held by China, the world's No 2 creditor nation with 207 trillion yen in net assets at the end of 2013, followed by Germany whose assets hit 192 trillion yen, the ministry said. Japan's gross external assets rose 20.4 percent to 797 trillion yen, up for a fifth consecutive year, as the weak yen boosted the appraised value of external assets by 105 trillion yen from a year before, the ministry said.