Mista
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Oh no, it's over for Japan.
It makes me sad to see Japan to decline like that. The Japanese don’t deserve that.
1) Current account balance is a better indicator than trade balance. Japan still likely recorded a current account surplus despite its record trade deficit as Japan has large amount of amounts of overseas investments generating income. A large portion of other countries' trade surplus (China or Vietnam for example) is actually accrued to Japanese companies.
The current account balance, a wider gauge of international trade, was also affected by the massive trade deficit last year, though economists say Japan likely stayed in the black with a smaller surplus than a year earlier, helped by returns on foreign investments by Japanese firms.
Japan posts record trade deficit of 19.97 tril. yen in 2022
Japan registered its biggest annual trade deficit of 19.97 trillion yen ($155.27 billion) in 2022, after imports grew far more than exports, boosted by higher energy and raw material costs along with a weaker yen, government data showed on Jan. 19.
english.kyodonews.net
TOKYO : Japan logged the largest current account surplus for the month of November, driven by a record rise in primary income gains from returns on Japanese overseas investment, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday.
The primary income surplus, an easing of trade deficits and the weak yen combined to bring Japan's current account surplus to 1.8 trillion yen ($13.65 billion) in November, the highest ever for that month, the data showed.
Japan posts record current account surplus for November
TOKYO : Japan logged the largest current account surplus for the month of November, driven by a record rise in primary income gains from returns on Japanese overseas investment, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday.The primary income surplus, an easing of trade deficits and the weak yen...
www.channelnewsasia.com
2) A trade or current account deficit doesn't necessarily mean it's bad as long as it's <3% of GDP. The US has the largest deficit in the world but it's also the world's most powerful economy. Its deficits grow in years when income and job growth is strong, like last year. There are also many advanced countries with trade deficits. For most if not all countries, domestic demand is a stronger source of demand of the economy than net exports.
OTOH, you have Russia and China having record surpluses last year but growth was very weak as sanctions/zero-Covid take a toll on their domestic demand. Would you say zero-Covid is good for China's economy? If China can successfully bring back consumer confidence and demand this year after relaxing Covid restrictions, would you say it's bad for their economy?