TOKYO, Feb 9 – Japan’s current account surplus nearly doubled to 20.63 trillion yen (US$140 billion) in 2023 from the previous year, as the country’s trade deficit shrank thanks to record exports, government data showed Thursday, reported Xinhua.
The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of the country’s overseas trade and investment flows, surged 92.5 per cent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Trade deficit more than halved to 6.63 trillion yen after exports grew 1.5 per cent to 100.27 trillion yen and imports declined 6.6 per cent to 106.90 trillion yen, the data showed.
Primary income, or returns from past direct investment and portfolio investment overseas, swelled to 34.56 trillion yen, the highest since comparable data became available in 1985, with a weaker yen inflating the value of overseas investment returns for Japanese companies.
In December alone, Japan’s current account surplus grew sharply to 744.3 billion yen from 9.5 billion yen a year earlier, up for an eleventh straight month.
