Japan’s trade deficit widened in March, pushed higher by soaring oil prices and a weakening yen.

Japan’s weakening yen raised further alarm in Tokyo on Wednesday as the government reported a bigger-than-expected trade deficit largely due to soaring costs for imports of oil, food and other necessities.

The deficit of 412 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for March was lower than the previous month’s 670 billion yen but was quadruple analysts’ estimates and a reversal of the 615 billion yen surplus recorded a year earlier for the world’s third-largest economy.

The weaker yen helps make Japanese exports more competitive overseas and fattens profits when they are converted from dollars to yen, but it also raises costs both for consumers and businesses.

Japan’s finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, and other leaders have expressed concern over the dollar’s precipitous climb, saying abrupt changes in exchange rates add to business risks.

Earlier, the concern was that the dollar would rise to the 130 yen level by the year’s end, Richard Katz, editor-in-chief of The Oriental Economist, said in a commentary.
But “The spectre of an out-of-control flight from the yen is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo,” Katz said.