Japan recorded a current account surplus of 524,000 million yen (4,363 million euros / 4,778 million dollars) last December, marking its sixty-sixth consecutive month with a positive balance, the government reported today.
The figure represents an increase of 12.8 percent compared to December 2018 and almost a third of the positive balance recorded last November, according to data published Monday by the Ministry of Finance of Japan.
The Japanese trade balance posted a surplus of 1.2 trillion yen (9.992 million euros / 10.943 million dollars), 44.6% year-on-year less.
Exports fell by 7.2% year-on-year to 65.5 billion yen (54.538 million euros / 59.732 million dollars), while imports fell by 6.0% to 64.36 billion yen ( 53,585 million euros / 58,689 million dollars).
The balance of services registered a positive balance of 24,500 million yen (209 million euros / 223 million dollars), which contrasts with the negative balance of 108,810 million yen (905 million euros / 992 million dollars) observed a year before
In the last month of 2019, the income account showed a surplus of 400,100 million yen (3,330 million euros / 3,647 million dollars), 2.1% less year-on-year.
The transfer registered a negative balance of 21.3 billion yen (177 million euros / 194 million dollars), which is 60.8 less than in the previous month.
The balance of payments reflects payments and income from foreign exchange of goods, services, income and transfers, and is considered one of the largest commercial indicators in a country.