Japan logs current account surplus for 2nd straight month in August

Japan logged a current account surplus for the second consecutive month in August, standing at 287.1 billion yen (2.65 billion U.S. dollars), as firm income from investments overseas outweighed a trade deficit, government data showed Wednesday.

According to the Finance Ministry, exports in the reporting period rose 1.0 percent from a year earlier to 52.20 billion dollars, but imports climbed 2.3 percent to 59.89 billion dollars partly due to rising imports of liquefied natural gas, bringing the goods trade deficit to 7.69 billion dollars.

On the other hand, the country's income from foreign sources surged 20.6 percent to 14.05 billion dollars, marking the second straight monthly rise, supported by dividends from foreign direct investment with the yen's depreciation.

In August, the services sector posted a deficit of 2.32 billion dollars, but the travel balance of payments improved as the number of foreign passenger arrivals in Japan soared 22.4 percent from a year before to 1.11 million.

The current account measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment. It is calculated by determining the difference between Japan's incomes from foreign sources against payments on foreign obligations and excludes net capital investment.