Japan's trade balance to turn positive this year, JP Morgan predicts

Tokyo

JAPAN'S trade balance could swing dramatically back into the black this year - and stay there - after four years of being heavily in the red, investment bank JP Morgan has said.

In a new analysis offering some rare good news about the world's third largest economy however, JP Morgan said that going from a record trade deficit of 12.8 trillion yen (S$145 billion) last year to a projected surplus of 10.8 trillion yen could send the yen climbing against the dollar again, and push the inflation target of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) further out of reach.