Tokyo, 11 May, /AJMEDIA/
Japan’s current account surplus in fiscal 2022 shrank 54.2 percent from a year earlier to 9.23 trillion yen ($68.8 billion), the lowest level since fiscal 2014, after high energy prices and a weak yen widened the goods trade deficit, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The current account surplus, one of the widest gauges of international trade, fell as the resource-poor country saw its goods trade deficit grow nearly 12-fold to 18.06 trillion yen as a weak yen inflated import costs, according to a preliminary report.
Imports jumped 35.0 percent to 117.68 trillion yen, while exports rose 16.3 percent to 99.62 trillion yen.
The deficit in services trade, including cargo shipping and passenger transportation, rose 8.2 percent to 5.28 trillion.
Meanwhile, primary income, which reflects returns on overseas investments, surged 22.6 percent to 35.56 trillion yen, inflated by the weak yen.
In March alone, the country’s current account surplus shrank to 2.28 trillion yen, down 29.6 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
