Japan to cut super-long bond issuance amid demand slump
Japan's Finance Ministry plans to cut this year's issuance of super-long government bonds amid slumping demand for debt instruments with maturities of over 10 years.
The ministry presented the proposal on Friday to financial institutions that take part in auctions. It is rare for it to review a bond issuance plan midway through a fiscal year.
The revised plan calls for trimming issuance of bonds, including maturities of 20-to-40 years, starting July. That represents a reduction of 3.6 trillion yen, or almost 25 billion dollars for the current fiscal year.
The bonds would be replaced by others with shorter maturity and more bonds for individual investors.
The total value of bond issuance for this fiscal year would be kept unchanged at 176.9 trillion yen, or about 1.2 trillion dollars.
The ministry draws up a bond-issuance plan every fiscal year and conducts auctions accordingly. But the auction for 20-year bonds held in May saw the weakest demand since 2012.
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