Japan’s Current Account Surplus Rises 8% in July

Japan’s current account surplus expanded 8.0 percent in July from a year earlier for the second straight monthly increase, led by a decline in imports due to lower crude oil prices and the yen’s appreciation, the government said Thursday.

The surplus, which came to 1.94 trillion yen ($19.0 billion), was the largest for July since comparable data became available in 1985, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. Japan posted a current account surplus for the 25th consecutive month.

A continued rise in the travel surplus also helped lift the current account surplus on the back of an increasing number of foreign tourists visiting Japan.

Among key components in the current account, one of the widest gauges of a country’s international trade, goods trade registered a surplus of 613.9 billion yen, a turnaround from a deficit of 88.0 billion yen a year earlier.

Exports fell 15.7 percent from a year earlier to 5.55 trillion yen, as shipments of such products as automobiles and steel declined, while imports plunged 26.0 percent to 4.94 trillion yen.

The value of crude imports dropped 42.7 percent as average oil prices shed 25.2 percent to $47.71 per barrel in the month. The value of liquefied natural gas imports fell 43.2 percent.

via Mainichi

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza