Japanese Current Account Surplus Rose 23.1 YoY

Japan’s current account surplus expanded 23.1 percent in August from a year earlier for the third consecutive monthly increase, as imports were pushed down by lower crude oil prices and a firming yen, the government said Tuesday.

The surplus came to 2.00 trillion yen ($19 billion), the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. Japan posted a current account surplus for the 26th straight month.

Among key components in the current account, one of the widest gauges of a country’s international trade, goods trade registered a surplus of 243.2 billion yen, a turnaround from a deficit of 329.2 billion yen a year earlier.

Exports fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier to 5.30 trillion yen, led by a decline in shipments of automobiles and steel, while imports plunged 18.3 percent to 5.06 trillion yen.

Despite the turnaround, “the trade balance has not improved much, given continued weak demand in Asia,” said Yuichiro Nagai, an economist at Barclays Securities Japan Ltd., adding that the yen’s appreciation may have also helped push down exports.

In the reporting month, the Japanese currency climbed 17.8 percent from the previous year to an average 101.27 yen per U.S. dollar, and surged 17.2 percent to 113.54 yen per euro, according to the ministry.

The value of crude oil imports plunged 35.7 percent as average oil prices dropped 23.1 percent to $45.37 per barrel in the month. The value of liquefied natural gas shed 34.6 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