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Trade
Surplus
From
around the middle of the 1970s, Japan began to develop
chronic trade surpluses as exports outstripped imports.
In 1997 the surplus hit ¥13.62 trillion ($113 bilion at
a rate of ¥120 to the dollar).
Many
countries have run up trade deficits with Japan. Mindful
of the negative impact on domestic industry that chronic
large trade deficits can have, the United States and
some other countries have demanded from time to time
that Japan reduce its surplus, and Japan has placed
voluntary ceilings on exports of certain manufactured
items.
Japan
is working to reduce the surplus by implementing various
import-promotion policies in the belief that a reduction
will contribute to the healthy development of the global
economy. For instance, a government-affiliated
organization that promotes imports dispatches staff
overseas and provides information to help foreign
companies export to Japan.
Japanese
manufacturers of such products as electrical equipment
and cars are moving production facilities overseas,
moreover, to offset the costs of the stronger yen--which
is a result of Japan's large trade surplus to begin
with. In fiscal 1996 (April 1996 to March 1997)
investment in overseas factories topped ¥5.4 trillion
($45 billion at a rate of ¥120 to the dollar).
As
a result, many items that used to be exported are now
being produced in overseas markets. And there has been
an increase in imports of manufactured goods and parts,
whose prices have dropped with the yen's appreciation.
The
trade surplus, which reached its peak in 1992, continued
to decline until fiscal 1996 when the surplus was only
54 percent of its peak figure. Then it began to expand
again in the fiscal 1997.
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