Japanese surplus doubles in year

Press, 18 April 1978, Page 8

Japanese surplus doubles in year

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo I Japan notched up a record; 5U520.57 billion visible, trade surplus for the fiscal year ended last month, near-j ly double the previous year’s i figure of SUSII.IS billion, | the Japanese Finance Ministry has announced, j The current-account surplus, an important factor behind the yen’s appreciation against the American dollar on the Tokyo foreignexchange market, rose to a i record 5U514.13 billion in 11977, more than triple the previous year’s figure. The Japanese Prime Minister (Mr Takeo Fukuda) forecast at the seven-nation noncommunist summit in London last May a SUS7OOM current-account deficit for the fiscal year of 1977. This was later revised to a surplus of about SUSIO billion. A further record was established with the over-all ba'ance-of-payments surplus, which rose to $U512.13 billion from 5U53.25 billion the previous year. The figures may intensify pressure on Japan, especially from the United States and the European Common Market, to rectify its trade sur- j

i pluses to help world econs; lomic recovery. 11 However, foreign-exchange | ‘dealers in Tokyo said the! market had already largely I discounted the figures an-' inounced yesterday. I The dollar, which at one j point this month plunged to | a post-war record low of 218 yen in Tokyo, rose slightly ■ to 219.50 from an afternoon ’ opening 219.38, they said. On a monthly basis, the : visible trade surplus rose to a record SUS3.IO billion in i March from 5U52.34 billion in February and SUSI.S6 bil- ■ lion in March last year. The current-account sur- • plus — which includes vis- ■ ible trade as well as “invis- ■ ibles” such as tourism, ■ freight, and insurance — rose in March to a record SUS2.4O billion from ; SUSI.BO billion in February ' and SUSB66 million in March last year. ; The over-all balance-of-I payments surplus for the , month rose to SUS3.I2 bil- ■ lion, compared with SUS2.OI ; billion in February and $935 (million in March, 1977. ■ Mr Fukuda said in Tokyo at the week-end that he I would discuss with President Jimmy Carter at a summit j meeting in Washington next

i month hopes that Japan could cut drastically its cur-rent-account surplus. Earlier this month, ■ joint 1 Japan-E.E.C. communique [after talks in Tokyo said the (Japanese Government ex--1 pected its current-account surplus to fall by about onethird in the fiscal year of 1978. Also at the week-end, the International Trade and Industry Ministry, alarmed at the booming Trade surpluses, called on Japanese manufacturers to cut exports of cars, steel, television sets, and ships.