Japan’s weakest export growth in a year spurred a wider-than-forecast trade deficit in March, adding to challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in steering the economy through the aftermath of an April 1 sales-tax rise.
The 1.8% rise in the value of shipments overseas from a year earlier, reported today by the Ministry of Finance, compared with a 6.5% median estimate of 27 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. An 18.1% jump in imports helped widen the deficit to the biggest ever for the month.
Exports by volume fell the most since June last year, suggesting external demand may fail to provide much support for an economy set to contract this quarter. A spending spree ahead of the tax increase boosted imports, already swollen by a surge in energy costs due to the yen’s slide and nuclear shutdowns.
The rush demand ahead of the tax increase could have prompted companies to divert shipments to the domestic market, rather than overseas, crimping export growth, according to one expert.
Abe’s drive to shake off more than a decade of deflation and economic drift helped drive down the yen, boosting profits of exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. even as shipment volumes remain sluggish. Export volumes fell 2.5% in March from a year earlier.
At the same time, the Japanese currency’s 19% drop since Abe came to power in December 2012 has boosted import values, contributing to 21 straight monthly deficits -- the longest slide in comparable data back to 1979.
