The Infrastructure for Japan's Municipal Debt Market : Present and Future Outlook

As Japan's municipal debt market has steadily expanded in recent years, the issue of municipal debt risk, particular the credit risk portion, has increasingly attracted attention. This has raised the pressure on local governments to proactively provide, both accurately and clearly, the information that investors are likely to need when deciding whether to invest in munis. Within this context, this report examines progress over the past several years in enhancing Japan's infrastructure for the municipal debt market, particularly in regards to public accounting rule reforms, municipal debt investor relations, and trends in obtaining credit ratings