As Japan’s government tries to head of a shortage of money for the country’s rapidly ageing population, savers are due to put $690 billion into the equity market to take advantage of new tax incentives, Bloomberg reports, citing data.

The Nippon Individual Savings Account program, which opens for applications today, permits people to buy Y1 million (around $10,143) a year of “risk assets” that are exempt from taxes on dividends and capital gains for five years. The news agency says the plan will draw as much as Y68 trillion through to 2018, with 65 per cent of users pulling money out of bank deposits to purchase securities, estimates from Nomura Research Institute show.

The Japanese authorities want savers to put money into equities rather than keep funds in low-yield cash deposits.

The news service notes that equities accounted for only 7.9 per cent of household assets as of March, compared with 34 per cent in the US and 15 per cent in the eurozone (source: Bank of Japan(.

The changes can also be seen as part of moves by Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, to boost the country’s economy from its two decades of relative slumber.