In Japan, exports fell both in April and in the first three weeks of May

Japan's current account surplus fell 69,5% yoy in April on the back of last March's earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster, but the number did not raise concerns as analysts had expected a much steeper slump, greater than 80%. The figure was accompanied by that on the trade deficit for the first three weeks of May caused by -9,3% in exports and +13,4% in imports. In April, exports had contracted by 12,4%. As expected, in the period from May 1 to 20, imports exceeded imports by more than 3,7 trillion yen. Also in this case the figure did not surprise analysts too much due to the expected drop in exports of cars and components and the import of large quantities of oil and gas needed to make up for the collapse in output from nuclear power plants. The less negative data than expected could affect the GDP in the first quarter: until a few days ago the consensus was around -3%, today it seems that the figure could be closer to -XNUMX%.