Japan current account deficit hits $5.73bn

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Published Jan 14, 2014

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Tokyo - Japan posted a current account deficit of 592.8 billion yen (5.73 billion dollars) in November, slipping into the red for the second straight month amid the yen's fall and growing demand for energy, the government said Tuesday.

The deficit grew 230.1 per cent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report, and represented the biggest deficit for November for 30 years.

The current account shortfall was largely blamed on a trade deficit of 1.25 trillion yen as Japan imported more petroleum and liquefied natural gas after the nation's worst nuclear disaster in 2011.

The yen has declined about 20 per cent since the start of 2013, driving up import costs but also helped exporters improve repatriated revenues. - Sapa-dpa

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