Finance

Home page

Finance

Japan records trade deficitâ€Ž

25 May 2011 07:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Japan’s exports fell 12.5 percent in April from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly decline, and posted a trade deficit for the first time in three months, the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday.

The ministry said in a preliminary report that the trade balance was tipped by the adverse affects of the March 11 disasters on production and shipping of goods.

The trade balance fell into a deficit of 463.7 billion yen (5.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the recording period, compared with economists’ expectations for a 12.4 percent fall and following a 2. 3 percent revised decline logged in the previous month.

The figure also compares with a 729.2 billion yen surplus logged a year earlier.

The ministry said it was the first time since a 479.41 billion yen deficit booked in January that the balance has swung from a surplus.

The government figures revealed that exports totaled 5.156 trillion yen in the recording period and imports added up to 5.619 trillion yen, marking an 8.9 percent rise from a year earlier as commodity prices increased.

By region, export to the United States fell sharply by 23.3 percent, with the import to the nation increased only 1.8 percent.