Japan’s current account surplus in the April-September period rose 14.1% from a year earlier, hitting a half-year record of ¥17.51 trillion, 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 from the year-before deficit of ¥2.36 trillion, 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% from a year earlier to ¥22.28 trillion, the largest half-year surplus on record.
In services trade, which includes transportation and travel, Japan saw its deficit decline 11.3% to ¥1.86 trillion. The travel services trade surplus rose to ¥3.31 trillion thanks to an increase in visitors to Japan, nearly offsetting a deficit of ¥3.35 trillion on in digital services trade, which includes online advertising.
In September alone, Japan scored a current account surplus of ¥4.48 trillion, a record high for the month. The primary income account surplus soared 82.3% from a year earlier to ¥4.95 trillion, boosted by dividend income from overseas subsidiaries.
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