Japan today announced another mammothmonthly trade surplus that economists said would be sure to
intensify already mounting pressure on the country for action.
    "The world has every reason to be furious with Japan for not
moving more quickly," Jardine Fleming (Securities) Ltd economist
Eric Rasmussen said.
    The Finance Ministry said today that the trade surplus
soared to 8.14 billion dlrs in February from 5.7 billion in
January and 4.77 billion a year ago.
    The current account surplus, which includes trade in
services as well as goods, climbed to 7.38 billion dlrs last
month from 4.95 billion in January and 3.89 billion a year ago.
    After being adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, the figures
look a bit better, but not much. On that basis, the trade
surplus declined slightly in February to 9.16 billion dlrs from
a record 9.58 billion in January.
    "In the medium term we expect this modest improvement to
continue but the pace of progress may be too slow to ward off
further protectionism or further yen strength," said William
Stirling, economist at Merrill Lynch Japan Inc.
    A strong yen would make Japanese goods more expensive on
world markets while making imports into the country cheaper.
    "On a seasonally adjusted basis, we appear to be making some
progress on getting exports down," Jardine's Rasmussen said.
    But imports do not seem to be picking up much because the
Japanese economy remains sluggish, he said.
    Finance Ministry officials blamed last month's slower
import growth on a decline in oil imports as refiners worked
off stocks they had built up in January.
    The officials took comfort from a decline in the volume of
exports last month, after an unexpected year-on-year increase
in January.
    This means the effects of the two-year rise of the yen
against the U.S. Dollar are finally beginning to have an impact
on exports, they said.
    But economists warned that may not be soon enough for
Japan's trading partners.
 REUTER
