- Yuichiro Nagai, an economist at Barclays Securities Japan Ltd
Japan logged an 18th current account surplus in a row amid a plunge in crude oil imports and a travel surplus due to the Japanese Yen's depreciation. In the final month of 2015, Japan reported a current account surplus of 960.7 billion yen, compared with 225.9 billion yen a year earlier, according to the Finance Ministry. Trade exports increased 5.5% to 6.247 trillion yen, while imports dropped 2.2% to 6.059 trillion yen. In 2015, the nation's current account surplus surged more than six fold from the previous year to 16.64 trillion yen, with imports slumping 10.3%, while exports rose 1.5%.
Japan has been relying heavily on energy imports since the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, with most of the country's commercial reactors remaining shut down. Oil prices are likely to continue to be a major driver influencing Japan's trade balance, as exports are predicted to remain weak this year. The average crude oil imports plummeted 41% as average oil prices almost halved to $55 per barrel in 2015. In addition to that, a record travel surplus of 1.12 trillion lifted the current account balance, as the Yen's weakness attracted foreign visitors to Japan. The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan surged 47.1% in 2015 from a year earlier to a record 19.74 million. The Japanese Yen lost 14.5% versus the US Dollar from the previous year to trade at 121.09.
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