Japan’s Trade Surplus Shrinks: Japan’s current account,...

Japan’s Trade Surplus Shrinks: Japan’s current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, narrowed 28.4% to $56.98 billion in 1989, but economists said the trend was set to reverse in 1990. Record spending by Japanese abroad, higher oil imports and a strong dollar contributed to the cut, the Finance Ministry said. Hidehiro Iwaki, an economist at the Nomura Research Institute said a resurgence in overseas demand for Japanese exports, particularly in the United States, as well as a flattening of import growth are likely to see Japan’s trade surplus expand this year.

From Times Staff and Wire Reports