An improving job market driven by Japan's economic recovery and booming stock prices helped increase households' net worth this year, a survey showed, suggesting the benefits of Abenomics, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economics policies, are broadening.
Households' average financial assets rose 6.8 percent from a year ago to ¥11.5 million in 2017 thanks to a 25 percent rise in stock prices, an annual survey by the Central Council for Financial Services Information (CCFSI), a body administered by the Bank of Japan, showed Friday.
But uncertainty over social welfare provisions being maintained among a rapidly aging population prevented households from turning to riskier investments, underscoring the challenge the central bank faces in nudging the country's risk-shy population to invest rather than save cash in accounts.