Japan’s record foreign trade deficit

Local media reported on Thursday that Japan’s foreign trade deficit rose to a record 21.73T yen ($160B) in the 2022 fiscal year that ended March 31.

The deficit quadrupled last fiscal year on an annual basis, Japan’s Kyodo agency reported, and Anadolu Agency reported, due to higher energy costs and a weaker yen. During this period, imports jumped 32.2 percent to 120.95T yen, while exports rose 15.5 percent to 99.23T yen.

The trade deficit of 21.73T yen was the highest level since comparable data became available in 1979.

The previous largest deficit was ¥13.76T in the fiscal year 2013.

The Eurozone records its first trade surplus in 17 months

The trade balance of the Eurozone achieved a surplus of 4.6B euros (5B dollars) in February. This marked leaving the deficit territory for the first time in a year and a half, the statistical service of the European Union announced on Thursday.

Exports of goods from the Eurozone to the rest of the world increased in February by 7.6 percent annually to 232.7B euros, while imports increased by 1.1 percent to 228.1B euros.

Trade within the Eurozone amounted to 224.4B euros in February, which is eight percent more than a year earlier, Anadolu Agency reported.

The European Union achieved a trade surplus for the first time since June 2021, reaching 4.8B euros in February.

The first estimate for exports outside the EU amounted to 207.7B euros, which is eight percent more than in the same month last year, while imports from the rest of the world amounted to 202.9B euros, a decrease of 2.8 percent.