Weak Yen Increases Costs of Imports Japan Posts 10th Deficit

Japan has posted its tenth straight monthly trade deficit as a weaker yen increased the cost of imports more than it helped boost exports.

The deficit of 879.9bn yen ($8.6bn; £5.7bn) in April was wider than many economists had forecast.

Japan has deliberately weakened the yen to make its goods cheaper abroad and boost demand. However, this also makes imports, such as energy, more pricey.

The deficit is expected to shrink in coming months, as exports pick up more.

In April, exports rose by 3.8% from a year earlier, while imports gained 9.4%.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza