Japan posts monthly record trade deficit

Japan posts monthly record trade deficit

Japan posted a monthly record trade deficit of $27.3 billion in January, data showed Thursday, as a weak yen pushed up post-Fukushima energy costs, despite upbeat exports to the US, China and Europe.

Shipping containers are loaded onto an international freighter at the international cargo terminal in Tokyo on January 27, 2014

The country's trade deficit ballooned to 2.79 trillion yen ($27.3 billion), up 70.8 percent from a year earlier, the finance ministry said.

The growing imbalance was stoked by a 25 percent jump in imports to a record 8.04 trillion yen on soaring bills for oil and gas purchases, after Japan shuttered its nuclear reactors.

Exports rose 9.5 percent to 5.25 trillion yen, partly driven by a jump in shipments of vehicles.

The figures marked the latest batch of worrying news for Japan after the country's sizzling GDP growth slowed to a crawl in the fourth-quarter of last year, and as it posted a record trade deficit through 2013.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT