Japanese prefer hoarding bills over bank deposits; Negative interest rates a factor
(From Asahi Shimbun)
Japan will print an additional 180 million 10,000-yen ($90) banknotes in fiscal 2016 from a year earlier to meet the rising demand as an increasing number of Japanese households are tucking the bills away at home.
According to the Finance Ministry’s plan, the Bank of Japan will print 1.23 billon 10,000-yen banknotes, worth 12.3 trillion yen, during fiscal 2016 through March 2017, a 17 percent increase from fiscal 2015.
Demand for 10,000-yen notes, the largest bill, has been steadily rising while that for smaller denominations is shrinking. The ministry’s plan calls for reducing the number of new banknotes for 1,000-yen and 5,000-yen bills.
The annual number of 10,000-yen banknotes printed by the BOJ was kept at 1.05 billion for five years through fiscal 2015. Read more