Japan is considering selling shares in NTT, the country’s largest telecommunications company, to raise money for defense spending.
According to the Nihongeizai Shimbun, former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Akira Amari told a TV program that “NTT shares” owned by the Japanese government “should be sold over a period of 20 years” because “if you sell them all at once, the stock price will plummet.
“NTT stock will be a stable source of finance for quite a long time,” Amari said, adding that “since mid-August, there have been requests for discussions including the meaning of the NTT Act’s existence.”
The Japanese government revised its three security documents last year, committing to a defense budget of 1 percent of GDP, or about 43 trillion yen, or about 397 trillion won, over the five-year period from 2023 to 2027.
Currently, the Japanese government owns 33.33% of NTT stock, with a market capitalization of about 43 trillion won.
If NTT shares were sold in equal amounts over a 20-year period, 먹튀검증 the Japanese government would receive an average of about KRW 2.1 trillion a year in proceeds.