Money Supply

Japan's Money Stock Statistics (MSS), compiled by the Bank of Japan through its Research and Statistics Department, tracks money available to the economy. It is a monthly compilation since 1955, with the current series revised in June 2008 and data from April 2003. Money holders are non-financial firms, individuals and local governments, excluding central government, banks, insurers and nonresidents.

Issuers are the BOJ and depository institutions, with M1 as cash plus demand deposits and M3 adding less-liquid deposits. M2 uses M3 instruments from fewer banks, while L adds trusts and securities for broader liquidity. It gauges economic and price conditions, sitting between base money and the wider Flow of Funds Accounts.

Figures cover each reference month as average amounts outstanding in trillions of yen, with end-of-period M1 and M3 also compiled. Forms are due by 10AM on the fourth business day after the reference month. Preliminaries appear at 8:50 AM JST on the seventh business day, and on the ninth for March and September. Finals appear on the seventh business day of the second month after, and on the ninth for February and August.

Headline moves are percent changes from a year earlier, with seasonally adjusted annualized moves, posted on the BOJ website with press notes and time-series data. Finals revise retroactively, with seasonal models refreshed each March and L parts reviewed every 3 years.

M1 reacts to payment needs, while broader money shifts with saving choices and market moves.

• Currency in circulation: banknotes and coins held by households and firms, the most settlement-ready cash.
• Deposit money: demand deposits for immediate use, minus checks and notes held by financial institutions.
• Quasi-money: time deposits, fixed and installment savings and foreign-currency deposits, convertible on termination.
• CDs: certificates of deposit (bank time-deposit-like paper) completing M3.
• Trusts: pecuniary trusts (bank trust principal, excluding pensions) and investment trusts (bond, stock and property funds).
• Market securities: bank debentures and straight bank bonds, financial CP (commercial paper), central-government securities and nonresident-issued foreign bonds.

The August 2025 release published September 9, 2025 showed M3 up 0.8% to 1619.9 trillion yen while M1 fell 0.8% to 1087.7 trillion yen. Currency in circulation fell 1.7% and deposit money 0.7%, but quasi-money jumped 4.5% to 509.2 trillion yen, with CDs down 3.7%. M2 rose 1.3% to 1271.1 trillion yen and L rose 1.9% to 2224.8 trillion yen on investment trusts 8.0% and government securities 16.7%.

Pecuniary trusts rose 3.5% and foreign bonds 4.0%, with debentures down 3.0%. Straight bonds fell 36.2% at 0.1 trillion yen while CP printed 400.0% at 0.0 trillion yen. L stays stable despite wild component rates.

1. Straight sums: stocks add without weights. M1 of 111.3 plus 976.4 gives 1087.7, plus 509.2 quasi-money and 23.1 CDs gives M3 of 1619.9. M3 plus 437.2 pecuniary trusts, 95.0 investment trusts, 37.5 government securities, 32.2 foreign bonds and small items gives L near 2224.8.
2. Averaging: headline levels are monthly averages; where only period-end stocks exist, average the month-end and prior month-end stocks.
3. Preliminary estimation: where source data arrive late, end-period stocks use the prior month plus the same-month change a year earlier. Some L items scale prior stocks by early reporters' moves.
4. Year-on-year change: the average level minus its year-ago value, divided by that value times 100.
5. Seasonal adjustment: uses X-12-ARIMA, a US Census Bureau method, refreshed each March with multiplicative log models; adjusted values divide originals by seasonal factors.