TOKYO, May 19 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s trade deficit dropped by almost 50 percent, to a one-year low of 432.4 billion yen (3.14 billion U.S. dollars) in Apr, owing in part to imports retreating for the first time in over two years, on lower prices for crude oil, the government said yesterday.
According to the Finance Ministry, imports declined for the first time in 27 months, dropping 2.3 percent to 8.72 trillion yen (63.41 billion dollars), as costs for resource-scarce Japan remained high, with a weak yen further punctuating inflated prices, especially for crude oil and liquefied natural gas.
Exports in the recording period rose 2.6 percent to 8.29 trillion yen (60.30 billion dollars), marking a record for the month of Apr, despite mounting fears over health of the U.S. and European economies.
Amid ferociously high interest rates, as part of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s response to soaring inflation that could possibly tip the world’s largest economy into a recession, the world’s largest economy is heading towards a possible disastrous and unprecedented default, on its 31.4-trillion-U.S. dollar-debt, as soon as Jun 1, if negotiations over the debt ceiling continue to make no headway, economists here pointed out, with regards to the downside risks facing Japan’s exports.
Japan held a trade deficit now for 21 successive months, the ministry said, booking a surplus with the U.S. in the recording period, as exports climbed 10.5 percent to 1.66 trillion yen (12.07 billion dollars), while imports were up 1.0 percent to 862.09 billion yen (6.27 billion dollars).
With China, Japan booked a trade deficit of 460.88 billion yen (3.35 billion dollars), with imports jumping 14.8 percent to 1.91 trillion yen (13.89 billion dollars), while exports retreated 2.9 percent to 1.45 trillion yen (10.54 billion dollars) in the recording period, the data showed.
With the rest of Asia, including China, Japan’s trade surplus dropped more than 50 percent to 297.87 billion yen (2.16 billion dollars), the ministry said.
Japan booked a deficit with the European Union, meanwhile, tumbling 62.2 percent from a year earlier to 72.40 billion yen (526.58 million dollars), said the Finance Ministry.
