In January of this year, Japan’s trade deficit reached a record high of 1.98 trillion yen, or $14 billion. informs local news agency Kyodo cites statistics from the country’s Ministry of Finance (MoF).
“In January, Japan recorded a record current account deficit of 1.98 trillion yen ($14 billion) as a result of rising import prices (energy resources and other types of products – socialbites.ca), which made the country have limited resources. “It recorded the largest trade deficit in history.”
At the same time, the rate of increase in exports of Japanese goods remained at a relatively low level due to the decrease in the volume of product exports to neighboring China. This was caused by the Chinese New Year holidays according to the lunar calendar.
“Export growth has been much slower than import growth, partly because Japanese firms have curtailed shipments to China due to the Lunar New Year holiday coming earlier than usual. This resulted in a huge trade deficit of 3.18 trillion yen, doubling the figure from a year ago.
January 22 Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported about the local energy company Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) management’s plans to increase utility tariffs by almost a third (30%). This trend was due to the rapid rise in energy prices causing the organization’s costs to increase.