FX.co ★ Japan's economy comes at the seams

The Japanese Ministry of Finance is raising alarm due to the largest foreign trade deficit in 34 years. Currently, the country's trade balance amounts to 4.843 trillion yen or $48.43 billion. Considering the new reforms implementation, that is not the best turn of events. Besides the catastrophic impact on the environment, the Fukushima nuclear plant accident will be making economic problems for a long time. After holding up the works on most of the nuclear plants, the country felt an increased need for oil and gas supply. Rise in price of energy resources, in particular, of oil and natural gas greatly affected the Land of the Rising Sun. Furthermore, export indicators have been lagging behind the import ones for the twelfth month in a row. The foreign trade balance was so upset, that even the smartphones import volume is equal to the one of the minerals. A negative balance of trade shows that Japan's import, in particular, import of energy resources, exceeds its export. Besides, the yen is declining against the other majors. Japan has not witnessed such a trade deficit since 1979.