Japan logs record trade deficit in 2022 amid soaring energy prices

Japan posted its biggest annual trade deficit since record
keeping began in 2022, as soaring prices for energy and raw
material prices were further inflated by a weaker yen, the
government said in a report on Thursday, Trend reports citing
Xinhua.

According to the Finance Ministry, the country logged a 19.97
trillion yen (155.29 billion U.S. dollars) deficit for 2022,
marking the largest amount of red ink for a year since comparable
data became available in 1979.

Imports in the recording period leaped 39.2 percent to a record
118.16 trillion yen (918.88 billion U.S. dollars), while exports
were up a record 8.2 percent to 98.19 trillion yen (763.58 billion
U.S. dollars), the ministry’s preliminary reports showed.

The yen’s plunge to a more than three-decade low versus the U.S.
dollar during 2022 punctuated the trade deficit and the fact that
resource-poor Japan is at the mercy of imports for the country’s
core needs.

As for December alone, Japan booked a trade deficit of 1.45
trillion yen (11.27 billion U.S. dollars), the ministry said.

In the month, imports climbed 20.6 percent to 10.24 trillion yen
(79.63 billion U.S. dollars), while exports rose 11.5 percent at
8.79 trillion yen (68.35 billion U.S. dollars), the ministry’s data
also showed.