Japan's exports down for fifth month
- Published: 21 Nov 2012 at 08.01
- Online news:
Japan's exports fell for a fifth month, hampered by trade tensions with China and weak demand in Europe, pushing the world's third-largest economy closer to recession ahead of December elections.
Shipments fell 6.5% in October from a year earlier, leaving a trade deficit of 549 billion yen (US$6.7 billion), the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo on Wednesday. That compared with the median forecast of 25 economists for a 4.9% decline in exports. Imports were down 1.6%.
Japan will probably slide into recession this quarter on weakness in domestic consumption and falling exports, which account for about 15% of the economy. While the yen touched a seven-month low this week on speculation that opposition leader Shinzo Abe will be elected and force more central bank easing, the currency is still more than 30% higher than five years ago, hurting exporters profits.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
