Japan's current account surplus grows 76.3 pct in April

TOKYO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan's current account surplus grew 76.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.90 trillion yen (13.58 billion U.S. dollars) in April, as lower crude oil prices narrowed the trade deficit, the government said in a report on Thursday.

According to the Finance Ministry, the current account balance remained in positive territory for a third consecutive month.

The ministry's preliminary data showed the goods trade deficit shrank 83.5 percent to 113.1 billion yen (808.66 million U.S. dollars) in the reporting period.

Imports declined 4.1 percent from a year earlier to 8.34 trillion yen (59.62 billion U.S. dollars) owing to a drop in the price of crude oil, the ministry said, marking the first time imports had dropped in more than two years.

Owing to an increase in shipments of automobiles and optical instruments, the ministry said that exports in the recording period expanded 2.6 percent to 8.22 trillion yen (58.76 billion U.S. dollars).

Reflecting returns on overseas investments, primary income booked a surplus of 3.07 trillion yen (21.94 billion U.S. dollars), rising 3.1 percent on the back of higher foreign interest rates and a weak yen versus the U.S. dollar and a basket of other major currencies, the ministry said.

The ministry noted that the surplus in primary income hit a record high for April.

The country's services trade deficit, which includes cargo shipping and passenger transportation, contracted 35.5 percent from a year earlier, the data showed, to 646.5 billion yen (4.62 billion U.S. dollars).

This was due to the travel surplus growing, the ministry said.

The data also showed the travel balance surplus skyrocketed more than 11-fold to 94.1 billion yen (672.79 million U.S. dollars), lifted by swelling numbers of overseas visitors visiting Japan owing to prior COVID-linked restrictions being removed, the ministry said.

The travel surplus, the amount of money foreign visitors spend in Japan exceeding the spending of Japanese travelers abroad, can be highlighted by data from the tourism organization here showing that almost 2 million foreign nationals visited Japan in April, compared to just 560,200 Japanese departing the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.

Japan's current account surplus is one of the broadest measure of its trade with the rest of the world.

The data is keenly eyed by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Finance Ministry ahead of new potential policy changes or monetary easing or tapering measures.

In Japan, the current account surplus increases the East Asian 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.