Abe’s Pleas to Japan Inc. Unheeded as Firms Hoard Cash: Economy
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Two days after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured a pledge from Japan Inc. to do their best to boost wages to revive the world’s third-biggest economy, data showed companies hoarding record amounts of cash.
Corporate holdings of cash and deposits rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 233 trillion yen ($2 trillion) at the end of September, increasing every quarter for the past six years, according to the Bank of Japan. At the same time, firms’ assets in direct investment overseas rose to a record 73 trillion yen.