Trade deficit of 2,817.3 billion yen, the largest ever due to rising crude oil prices and depreciating yen

According to last month's trade statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, the balance of trade, which is the difference between imports and exports, was a deficit of 2.8173 trillion yen, the largest deficit since 1979 when comparable data are available.

The trade deficit was the 13th consecutive month, and was due to the large increase in the value of imports due to the rise in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the yen.