Japan's trade deficit reached a record high of 6.92 trillion yen last year, the finance ministry said on Jan. 24.
The figure represents a 170.1 percent jump from a year earlier. It compares with a trade deficit of 2.61 trillion yen tallied in 1980, which was mainly caused by oil price hikes following the outbreak of the second oil crisis.
Analysts attributed the increased trade deficit in 2012 to the global economic slump amid protracted uncertainties in Europe and Japan’s territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea with China.
In Asia, exports reached 34.86 trillion yen, a 5 percent decrease from the previous year, while imports amounted to 31.29 trillion yen, a 3 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the ministry. As a result, trade surplus totaled 3.57 trillion yen, a 43.3 percent drop from 2011.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com