11 trillion yen increase in large firms’ internal funds

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

11 trillion yen increase in large firms’ internal funds

Large corporations with a capital of one billion yen or more (except finance, insurance, postal industries) increased their internal reserves by 10.9 trillion yen to 243.9 trillion yen in FY 2009.

Akahata obtained this fact from business statistics that the Finance Ministry released on September 3.

The statistics also show that these companies boosted their net profits despite a decline in their sales due to the ongoing world economic crisis and reduced annual salaries and bonuses per employee by 260,000 yen to 5.39 million yen.

These industrial giants stored up their profits even with deteriorating sales by such means as replacing regular workers with non-regular workers as a cost-cutting practice. They also refrained from investing in production and chose to amass internal reserves, causing a downturn in the Japanese economy.

The increase of about 11 trillion yen is roughly equivalent to 2.2 million workers’ annual income at five million yen. The use of just a portion of such internal reserves can create more jobs and stimulate domestic demand.

Internal reserves are calculated by subtracting stocks from earned surplus, capital surplus, and loan-loss reserves.

- Akahata, September 6, 2010