Posted on 08/18/2013 8:01:53 PM PDT by TexGrill
Japan's trade deficit worsened in July, almost doubling from a year ago, as a weak yen boosted import costs.
The deficit for the month rose to 1.02tn yen ($10.5bn; £6.7bn), as imports surged 19.6% from a year ago.
The yen has fallen nearly 25% against the US dollar since November 2012, as policymakers unveiled a series of aggressive measures to revive growth.
Analysts said that despite the growing deficit, the government was likely to stick to its aggressive policies,
"In the short term the government will focus on its weaker yen policy as its priorities are very clear," Junko Nishioka, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo, told the BBC.
"They want to revive growth in the Japanese economy and a weak yen is key to achieving that goal," she added.
According to data released earlier this month, Japan's growth rate slowed in the April to June quarter, from the previous quarter.
The world's third-largest economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.6% during the period, down from the 4.1% annualized rate in the first three months of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
It’s hard to believe that Japan has become such an economic basket case.
The US is the basket case, and Japan has always been in our basket, that’s their real problem.
Protectionism and massive government interference in the market place. It’ll do it every time.
Devaluing your currency do not lead to prosperity as most establishment economist think these days
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