Mubasher: Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan slipped by 6.8% on an annual basis during 2019, according to a report issued by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

The surplus amounted to 563.99 billion Japanese Yen ($5.13 billion) last year, compared to 605.26 billion Japanese Yen ($5.51 billion) in 2018.

The decline resulted from a decrease of 6.2% year-on-year (YoY) in Kuwait’s exports to Japan, reaching 751.23 billion Japanese Yen ($6.83 billion) in 2019 from 800.65 billion Japanese Yen ($7.28 billion).

Meanwhile, the country’s imports from Japan registered 187.24 billion Japanese Yen ($1.70 billion) in 2019, down by 4.2% YoY from 195.39 billion Japanese Yan ($1.78 billion).

As for the Middle East, trade surplus with Japan shrank by 18.2% YoY at 6.50 trillion Japanese Yen ($59.13 billion) at the end of 2019 from 7.94 trillion Japanese Yen ($72.23 billion).