Do xenophobes prefer Germans or Japanese?

Thursday 29 May 2025

Deutsche has an interesting breakdown of some of the world’s largest trade surpluses and where the money ends up.

Yesterday Japan’s Ministry of Finance reported that Japan had lost its top spot as the world’s largest creditor nation to Germany, for the first time since 1991.

This made some headlines in Germany, and was hardly seen as welcome news.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.