TOKYO: The current account surplus grew 72.3 percent from a year earlier in October, the 16th consecutive month of surplus, boosted by plunging oil imports and an increase in the travel surplus, the government said Tuesday.
The surplus in the current account balance — one of the widest gauges of a country’s international trade — stood at ¥1.46 trillion and was also lifted by a goods trade surplus of ¥200.2 billion, the Finance Ministry said.
The goods trade logged the surplus against a deficit of ¥764.9 billion a year earlier, with exports falling 3.7 percent to ¥6.33 trillion, while imports declined 16.4 percent to ¥6.13 trillion, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
The value of crude oil imports dropped 49.2 percent as average oil prices shed 52.5 percent to $47.88 per barrel during the month. The value of liquefied natural gas imports fell 42.4 percent. Japan has been relying heavily on energy imports as most nuclear reactors have remained offline since the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Meanwhile, the surplus in the primary income account, which reflects how much Japan earns from its foreign investments, fell 14.4 percent to ¥1.73 trillion. This was due largely to smaller dividend payments received by companies from units overseas, a ministry official said. But the value of the primary income account surplus remained high, as a weaker yen helps raise receipts from overseas securities investments.
The yen dropped versus the U.S. dollar by 11.1 percent year-on-year in the reporting month — to an average ¥120.06 to the dollar. A weaker yen usually supports exports by making products cheaper abroad and lifts the value of overseas revenues in yen terms. The service balance logged a deficit of ¥337.3 billion, widening from a deficit of ¥209.5 billion a year earlier.
But the travel surplus, a component of the service balance, grew about fourfold to ¥110.7 billion as the yen’s depreciation helped attract foreign tourists to Japan. The surplus in the travel balance was the largest for October since comparable data became available in 1996, according to the ministry.
