The Finance Ministry's preliminary balance-of-payments release put the August current-account surplus at 4.062 trillion yen, wider than a year earlier, as primary income more than offset a goods deficit.
Japan's current-account surplus widened in August to 4.062 trillion yen, the Ministry of Finance said in a preliminary release dated 8 October. The surplus was 433.9 billion yen larger than a year earlier.
The ministry said the goods and services balance was a deficit of 803.5 billion yen, a wider shortfall than a year before. Goods trade alone swung to a deficit of 687.7 billion yen. Exports rose 16.9 percent to 9.8623 trillion yen, a twelfth straight monthly increase, while imports rose 26.7 percent to 10.55 trillion yen, a seventh straight increase.
Services showed a smaller deficit, at 115.8 billion yen. Primary income, which covers returns on overseas investment, was a surplus of 5.1332 trillion yen, 910.5 billion yen larger than a year earlier. Secondary income was a deficit of 267.7 billion yen, narrower than a year before. The ministry said the wider current-account surplus reflected the larger primary-income surplus.
On the financial account, the ministry recorded a surplus of 2.2183 trillion yen, compared with 1.7626 trillion yen in July. Direct investment was a deficit of 1.0164 trillion yen, while portfolio investment was a surplus of 4.9723 trillion yen. Foreign-exchange reserves were recorded as a deficit of 15.0907 trillion yen in the financial-account presentation.
The figures are preliminary and unadjusted in the table used here. The ministry pointed readers to customs trade data published on 29 September for the goods comparison. No policy response from the Bank of Japan was attached to the release.