 "Yen")
Japan posted its biggest annual trade deficit since record keeping began in 2022, as soaring prices for energy and raw material prices were further inflated by a weaker yen, the government said in a report on Thursday.
According to the Finance Ministry, the country logged a 19.97 trillion yen ($155 billion) deficit for 2022 -- the largest amount for a year since comparable data became available in 1979, reports Xinhua news agency.
Imports in the recording period leaped 39.2 per cent to a record 118.16 trillion yen, while exports were up a record 8.2 per cent to 98.19 trillion yen, the Ministry's preliminary reports showed.
The yen's plunge to a more than three-decade low against the US dollar during 2022 punctuated the trade deficit and the fact that resource-poor Japan is at the mercy of imports for the country's core needs.
As for December alone, Japan booked a trade deficit of 1.45 trillion yen, the Ministry said.
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In the month, imports climbed 20.6 per cent to 10.24 trillion yen, while exports rose 11.5 per cent at 8.79 trillion yen, the data showed.
--IANS
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