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Statistical Treatment of Treasury Discount Bills1

March 9, 2009
Bank of Japan

In line with the integration of financing bills (FBs) and treasury bills (TBs) to form "treasury discount bills (T-Bills),"2 the Bank of Japan has decided to change statistical treatment as follows.

  1. This is the English translation of a statement in Japanese released on February 3, 2009. Some changes indicated in this statement have already been made.
  2. For details, see "Issuance of Treasury Discount Bills" released on September 10, 2008, by the Ministry of Finance.

"Sources of Changes in Current Account Balances at the Bank of Japan and Market Operations"

(1) Daily

Beginning with the data for the day of the first issuance of treasury discount bills, "Outright purchases/sales of TBs/FBs" will be renamed "Outright purchases/sales of T-Bills."

(2) Monthly (preliminary figures)

Beginning with the data for February 2009, "JGBs and TBs" and "Financing bills" will be replaced by "JGBs (over one year)" and "Treasury discount bills."

(3) Monthly (final figures)

Beginning with the data for February 2009, "Outright purchases/sales of TBs/FBs" will be renamed "Outright purchases/sales of T-Bills," and "JGBs and TBs" and "Financing bills" will be replaced by "JGBs (over one year)" and "Treasury discount bills." 

"Sources of Changes in Current Account Balances at the Bank of Japan (Projections)"

Beginning with the data for February 2009, "Net issuance/redemption of JGBs and TBs" and "Net issuance/redemption of FBs" will be replaced by "Net issuance/redemption of JGBs" and "Net issuance/redemption of T-Bills."

"TBs and FBs Purchased by the Bank of Japan"

Beginning with the data for February 2009, the name of the statistics will be changed to "T-Bills Purchased by the Bank of Japan," and the Bank will release the data on the amount of each issue of treasury discount bills it has purchased.

"Collateral Accepted by the Bank of Japan"

Beginning with the data for February 2009, "Treasury/financing bills," one of the subitems of "Government bonds," will be renamed "Treasury discount bills."

"Bank of Japan Operations in the Money Markets" and "Bank of Japan Operations"

Beginning with the data for the day of the first issuance of treasury discount bills, "Outright purchases/sales of TBs/FBs" will be renamed "Outright purchases/sales of T-Bills."

"Monetary Base and the Bank of Japan's Transactions"

Beginning with the data for February 2009, "TBs and FBs" will be renamed "T-Bills."

"Bank of Japan's Transactions with the Government"

(1) Stock Table

Beginning with the data for February 2009, the following changes will be made:

"Outright sales of FBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund" and "Outright sales of TBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund" will be combined as "Outright sales of FBs and TBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund."

"Outright sales of FBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund" and "Outright sales of TBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund" will be combined as "Outright sales of FBs and TBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund."

(2) Flow Table

Beginning with the data for February 2009, the following changes will be made:

"Outright sales of FBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)" and
"Outright sales of TBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)" will be combined as "Outright sales of FBs and TBs to the National Debt Consolidation Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)."

"Outright sales of FBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)" and "Outright sales of TBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)" will be combined as "Outright sales of FBs and TBs to the Fiscal Loan Fund (change in the amount outstanding during the month)."

The same changes will be made to subitems, namely, "Sales" and "Redemption."

"Bank of Japan Accounts (Every Ten Days)"

Treasury discount bills will be included in "Financing bills, treasury bills and treasury discount bills" under "Breakdown of Japanese government securities" after the first issuance.

"Bank of Japan Accounts"

Beginning with the data for February 2009, treasury discount bills will be included in "Financing Bills, Treasury Bills and Treasury Discount Bills." The release of the subitem "Financing Bills" will be discontinued after the data for January 2009, since the definitions of "Financing bills, treasury bills and treasury discount bills" and "treasury discount bills" will be the same.

"Money Stock"

Treasury discount bills will be included in "Government Securities."

"Issuance, Redemption and Outstanding of Public and Corporate Bonds (Domestic Flotation)"

"Financing Bills" will be renamed "Treasury Discount Bills." Beginning with the data for February 2009, "Treasury Discount Bills" will include FBs and treasury discount bills.

"Statement of Receipts and Payments of Treasury Accounts"

"Financing Bills" will be renamed "Treasury Discount Bills." The issuance and redemption of treasury discount bills and the redemption of FBs issued before the integration will be included in "Treasury Discount Bills." However, the redemption of TBs issued before the integration will continue to be included in "Public Debt."

"National Government Debt"

"Financing Bills" will be renamed "Treasury Discount Bills." The amount outstanding of Treasury Discount Bills and FBs issued before the integration will be included in "Treasury Discount Bills." However, the amount outstanding of TBs issued before the integration will continue to be included in "Internal Japanese Government Securities Issued in Japan."

"Flow of Funds"

Statistical treatment is currently under examination.

For further information on statistical treatment of treasury discount bills, please contact the following address.

Statistics Planning
Research and Statistics Department
E-mail: post.rsd1@boj.or.jp

Please direct any inquiries concerning each statistics to the appropriate department below.

"Sources of Changes in Current Account Balances at the Bank of Japan and Market Operations," "Sources of Changes in Current Account Balances at the Bank of Japan (Projections)," "Bank of Japan Operations in the Money Markets," "Bank of Japan Operations (Updated every business day)/Offers, Results," and "TBs and FBs Purchased by the Bank of Japan":
Open Market Operations, Financial Markets Department

"Collateral Accepted by the Bank of Japan": Credit Risk Management, Financial Markets Department.

"Monetary Base and the Bank of Japan's Transactions" and "Bank of Japan's Transactions with the Government": Monetary Operations Planning, Monetary Affairs Department

"Bank of Japan Accounts": Accounting, Secretariat of the Policy Board

"Money Stock" and "Flow of Funds": Financial Statistics, Research and Statistics Department

"Issuance, Redemption and Outstanding of Public and Corporate Bonds (Domestic Flotation)": Planning for Government Securities Services, Operations Department

"Statement of Receipts and Payments of Treasury Accounts" and "National Government Debt": Government's Cash Management, Operations Department