Japanese Exports Showing Renewed Strength
Jan 20, 2015
byJeff Allan
Despite the news in mid-November that Japan entered a recession, there have been signs that that the economy is indeed heading towards a recovery. The Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) aggressive quantitative easing has pushed the yen to 7-year lows against the dollar. The most visible impact of the yen’s weakness has been recent gains by export-heavy industries.
In September, exports hit a 7-month high with increases of 6.9 percent. While that figure is impressive, October topped that by providing a 9.6 percent gain, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. That is more than double the 4.5 percent forecast by Reuters, and highlights a bright spot in the Japanese economy.
On the same token, analysts predicted a 3.4 percent increase in imports, but the actual figure was only 2.7 percent for October, putting the trade deficit at 710 billion yen. Japan’s trade deficit has so far decreased by 36 percent on a year-over-year basis.