Tag - debt

 
 

DEBT

Nissan expects a ¥275 billion ($1.8 billion) operating loss this year as it pushes ahead with cost-cutting to salvage its deteriorating finances.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2025
Nissan shares fall after warning of $1.8 billion annual loss
The struggling company has faced cratering profits and a mountain of debt,
Sanae Takaichi’s selection as Japan’s first female prime minister marks a historic breakthrough for women in politics, but her leadership faces significant challenges from political fragility and critics, both at home and abroad.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi’s rise to power and the ‘glass cliff’
Her appointment could prove to be a “glass cliff” as she encounters hypercriticism and the inherent challenges of a shaky coalition.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama is scheduled to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2025
Katayama talks taxes and debt without saying too much
In comments Friday, Japan's new finance minister steered clear of controversy and commitments.
Nada Choueiri, deputy director of the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific Department, speaks during an interview on Oct. 17 in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2025
Japan has time to restore fiscal health, IMF exec says
A consumption tax cut should be avoided, and fiscal measures should be highly targeted, the deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department said.
AI’s potential to resolve advanced economies’ debt and growth issues is uncertain as it faces significant obstacles and may exacerbate political unrest, inequality and global conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Will AI pay off the West’s debts?
To be sure, a wildly upbeat assessment of AI’s potential impact on economic growth has propelled asset markets higher over the last few years.
U.S. gross domestic product grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace in nearly two years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2025
World economy faces triple risk of tariffs, AI bubble and soaring debt
Such concerns will dominate the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this week.
The U.S. dollar has weakened 9.75% since the start of the year against a basket of major trading partners.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 26, 2025
Global debt hits record of nearly $338 trillion, report shows
Total debt in emerging markets rose by $3.4 trillion in the second quarter to a record high of more than $109 trillion.
The Finance Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The ministry plans to seek a record 32.4 trillion yen in debt-servicing costs in its budget request for fiscal 2026.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025
Finance Ministry seeks record budget for debt financing
The ministry’s request would be the highest amount ever budgeted for debt-servicing costs, which already account for about a quarter of Japan’s national budget.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is looking to expand its presence in the market for debt swaps as a way for emerging countries to alleviate their debt burdens and put savings toward sustainable goals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 13, 2025
MUFG in talks to arrange new debt swaps after $465 million deal
Japan’s biggest bank is looking to expand its presence in the market for debt swaps after helping to wrap up a deal for Cote d'Ivoire in December.
International Monetary Fund spokesperson Julie Kozack said any fiscal stimulus measures Japan takes to address economic shocks should be temporary and targeted at vulnerable households and companies, during a news conference on Thursday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025
IMF advises Japan to avoid broad tax cuts and handouts
Tackling inflation was a major campaign issue in the Upper House race, with opposition parties having called for reducing or abolishing the consumption tax.
Japanese companies are heading overseas to borrow as their local market is becoming too volatile and rates are rising.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2025
Japan Inc. takes global credit by storm with record sales
More and more Japanese companies are heading overseas to borrow as their local market is becoming too volatile and rates are rising.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou during a news conference to present a major public finance recovery plan in Paris on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2025
France's PM wants to scrap two public holidays to help fix government finances
"Everyone will have to contribute to the effort," Francois Bayrou said in a two-hour news conference, warning that public debt was a "mortal danger" for France.
Kazuki Hara, the head of Japan’s Rating and Investment Information's sovereigns and international issuers department, says that confidence in the dollar as a key reserve currency has not been shaken.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2025
Japanese agency's affirmation of top U.S. credit rating helps Hong Kong funds
As long as Rating and Investment Information maintains its top rating for the U.S., Hong Kong funds are allowed to invest over 10% of their assets in Treasurys.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the opening segment of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, in Seville, Spain, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Blistering heat and empty chairs mar U.N.'s flagship development event
Two key ingredients were in less abundance at the once-a-decade International Conference on Financing for Development: money and power.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in June.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 2, 2025
Japan’s record tax haul leaves questions over Ishiba’s handout pledge
Ishiba’s plan to distribute cash handouts of ¥20,000 per adult is expected to cost around ¥3.5 trillion, according to his Liberal Democratic Party.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet has approved this year's <i>honebuto no hōshin</i>, a document that sets economic and fiscal management guidelines for the government.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 13, 2025
Wage growth a focus of this year's honebuto no hōshin
The government's guidelines for economic and fiscal management outline the target of raising the average minimum hourly wage to ¥1,500 by 2030.
Elon Musk watches as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in March.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2025
Trump says he has no plans to speak to Musk as feud persists
Trump said a review of Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. "We'll take look at everything," the president said.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (center) attends a news conference at the Capitol on May 22 after the House narrowly passed a sweeping budget bill that some worry could add trillions to the country's deficit over the next decade.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2025
The U.S. is about to discover if deficits actually matter
It turns out that this pattern — the bigger the debt, the less likely politicians are to address it — is lurking in the data, and not just in the U.S.
Workers assemble a Nissan Juke at the production line at Nissan's factory in Sunderland, England, in November 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Nissan seeks to raise $7 billion with backing from U.K. government
The struggling automaker plans to issue debt and sell assets to raise funds for keeping its operations on track, according to internal documents.
Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi before their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on May 14
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Developing nations face 'tidal wave' of China debt, report finds
The poorest 75 countries are set to make "record high debt repayments" to China in 2025 of a combined $22 billion.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes