OTHER NEWS - July 16, 1993

Japan Trade Surplus Continues to Climb: The nation’s customs-cleared trade surplus with the world in June rose to $9.97 billion from $8.95 billion in the same month last year, the government said. In May, the imbalance was $7.88 billion. The ballooning surplus gives Tokyo’s economic partners more ammunition to press for action to reduce the gap. Japan’s trade surplus has now shown monthly gains over year-earlier levels for 30 straight months. The surplus with the United States, which last week signed an agreement designed to narrow the trade gap, climbed to $3.35 billion from $3.14 billion a year earlier.