Japan racked up a 2.2 trillion yen (USD 19 billion) trade deficit last month, an eight-year high, as the cost of energy imports soared, the government said Thursday. The Finance Ministry said exports edged up 9.6 per cent in January from the same month the previous year. Imports jumped 39.6 per cent, resulting in the sixth straight month of trade deficits, it said.
The amount is the biggest since January 2014, when the trade deficit totaled nearly 2.8 trillion yen. Koya Miyamae, a senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said the trade deficit tends to rise in January because of the New Year’s holidays, which pushes exports down.“But even taking that into consideration, the deficit is huge,” he said.
