Japanese Export Growth Slows

Pressure is mounting on Japan’s government and the country’s central bank to do more to prevent the economy from stalling as Japanese export growth slowed again in August.
The value of exports climbed by 15.8 percent from a year ago down from June’s 23 percent and 28 percent in July.
Japanese exporters also face the problem of the strong yen which recently hit a 15-year high against the dollar.
But economist Naomi Fink of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ said the economies of countries that buy Japanese goods are slowly improving: “The US does seem to be stabilising a little bit more, so many hope that even a slow recovery – if it is a stable recovery – can offset some of the pressure on Asian trade.”
However Japanese exports to the US increased by just 8.8 percent in August from a year earlier – well down on previous months.
Exports to the European Union also slowed, expanding by 13.7 percent while they went up by 18.5 percent to China which is Japan’s biggest trading partner.