Japan's trade deficit has widened more-than-forecast in April as a weaker yen made the country's imports significantly expensive, outweighing the gains from boost in exports.

The Ministry of Finance said that April trade deficit rose 69.7% to 879.94bn yen (£5.64bn/$8.58bn) year-on-year. April was the 10^th straight month of trade deficit for the country. Imports rose 9.4% to 6.66tn yen, while exports increased 3.8% to 5.78tn yen.

Economists expected a trade deficit of 621.1bn yen for the month.

The wider trade balance was primarily due to the rising costs for importing fuel, food, clothing and semiconductors that more than offset inflows from rising shipments of cars, iron and steel products.

In order to overcome more than 15 years of deflation, Japan has unveiled a number of monetary and fiscal policies involving a huge stimulus programme from the government and an asset buyback programme launched by the central bank.

International Business Times