Current account surplus grew sixfold in Jan.

March 8, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's current account surplus in January jumped sixfold from a year before due mainly to brisk exports to China and other Asian nations, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of the country's earnings from foreign trade and investment, totaled 607.4 billion yen, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

The result beat the median forecast of 337.7 billion yen in surplus in a Jiji Press survey of 20 economic research institutes. January marked the 43rd consecutive month of current account surplus.

Exports to China and other Asian countries expanded as the Lunar New Year holiday period, when industrial activity normally decreases markedly there, was in February this year instead of starting in late January last year.

Japan's deficit in goods trade dropped 21.6 percent to 666.6 billion yen.

Imports rose 8.1 percent to 6,893 billion yen on the back of higher crude oil prices. But exports grew at a faster pace of 12.7 percent, to 6,226.4 billion yen, reflecting robust shipments of automobiles and semiconductor manufacturing equipment mainly to China.

In services trade, Japan's deficit shrank 22.2 percent to 168.2 billion yen.

The travel balance, or spending by visitors to Japan minus expenditures by Japanese travelers overseas, posted a record surplus of 178.7 billion yen. The surplus in the balance of royalty payments on intellectual property rights also expanded.

Japan's surplus in the primary income account expanded 22.1 percent to 1,551.5 billion yen on increased interest and dividend receipts from abroad. Jiji Press