Japan’s public finances are totally unbelieveable. the scale of the public sector debt is so massive, it is almost too painful to comprehend. Japan as a nation is crippled with debt.

http://www.mof.go.jp/english/budget/budget/fy2016/01.pdf

http://www.mof.go.jp/english/budget/budget/fy2016/03.pdf

Some quick facts.

Total budget in 2016 for the Japanese government is (YEN) 96,721.8 Billion YEN. That is £608.068 Billion.

24.4% of this expenditure is National Debt payments. That is 23,612.1 Billion YEN = £148.444 Billion

So, that only leaves 75.6% of government expenditure available for the country, such as social security, education, healthcare, military etc etc.

Government revenues (income via taxation) generate 62,289.8 Billion YEN. Expenditure is 96,721.8 Billion YEN. That leaves a deficit of 34,432 Billion YEN (£216.466 Billion)

To match government expenditure to government income (Revenue), the Japanese government has to borrow. That is 35.6% of government revenue.

So the Japanese government has to borrow in 2016 an additional 34,432 Billion YEN by issuing Government Bonds to fund its spending commitments.

Japan’s government is borrowing today to finance its operations today, and has such massive structural debt, that 24.4% of today’s expenditure is to service its cumulative current debt mountain. Now today it is adding to the debt burden by an additional 34,432 Billion YEN (by borrowing 35.6% of its national budget).

Thus the debt mountain is getting larger. The logic is mind boggling.