Japan logs biggest current account surplus in April-Sept. since 2007

Japan logged the largest current account surplus in the first half of this fiscal year since 2007 mainly due to a drop in imports amid lower oil prices and stronger yen, the government said Wednesday.

The current account balance which quantifies the international trade of goods, services and investments in and out of the country, marked a surplus of 10.36 trillion yen (about 98.55 billion U.S. dollars) in the six-month period of April to September, up 20.5 percent from a year earlier, said the Ministry of Finance in a preliminary report.

Goods trade, a key component of the current account balance, registered a surplus of 2,995.5 billion yen in the first six months of fiscal 2016, compared with a deficit of 406.9 billion yen in the same period of the previous year, according to the report.

The value of crude oil imports declined 37.3 percent as average crude oil prices fell 25.6 percent to 43.76 U.S. dollars per barrel.

Japan has been highly dependent on energy imports since Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, which led to shutdown of most commercial reactors in the country with heightened safety concerns from the public.

The surplus in the primary income account which reflects how much Japan earns from its foreign investments decreased 14.1 percent from the previous year to 9,259.9 billion yen.

For the single month of September, Japan registered a current account surplus of 1,821.0 billion yen, a surplus for the 27th month in a row.

Goods trade achieved a surplus of 642.4 billion yen in September. Japan's current account surplus is one of the broadest measure of its trade with the rest of the world and the data is keenly eyed by the Bank of Japan and the Ministry of Finance ahead of new potential policy changes or monetary easing or tapering measures.

In Japan the current account surplus increases the nation's net foreign assets by the corresponding amount, and a current account deficit does the reverse.

Both the Japanese government and private payments are included in the calculation and it is called the current account because goods and services are generally consumed in the current period.