Japan April-Sept. Current Account Surplus Hits Record High

Tokyo, Nov. 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s current account surplus in April-September rose 14.1 pct from a year earlier, hitting a half-year record of 17,512.8 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday. In the first half of fiscal 2025, the current account balance, the broadest measure of a country’s international trade and investment flows, expanded mainly because the trade balance swung to a surplus following lower imports. The goods trade balance improved to a surplus of 49.4 billion yen from the year-before deficit of 2.36 trillion yen, marking the first surplus since the first half of fiscal 2021. Contributing factors include a decrease in imports of energy, such as crude oil and coal, and increased exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to other Asian markets. Japan’s surplus on the primary income account, which mainly covers companies’ dividend and interest receipts from abroad, rose 2.1 pct from a year earlier to 22,275.8 billion yen, the largest half-year surplus on record. In services trade, which includes transportation and travel, Japan saw its deficit decline 11.3 pct to 1,860.3 billion yen. The travel services trade surplus rose to 3,311.2 billion yen thanks to an increase in visitors to Japan, nearly offsetting a deficit of 3,349.2 billion yen in digital services trade, which includes online advertising. In September alone, Japan scored a current account surplus of 4,483.3 billion yen, a record high for the month. The primary income account surplus soared 82.3 pct from a year earlier to 4,949.7 billion yen, boosted by dividend income from overseas subsidiaries. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]