- Junko Nishioka, chief economist for Japan at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Japan logged a current account surplus for the 17th straight month in November, providing much needed support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to underpin the world's third biggest economy. Japan's current account surplus came in at 1.14 trillion yen in the reported month, up from 440.2 billion yen a year earlier, according to the Finance Ministry. Economists, however, had predicted a surplus of 895 billion yen. The surplus was driven by an increase in income from investments abroad by Japanese companies as well as rise in services amid an influx of tourists after the Japanese Yen weakened. Services swung into surplus of 61.5 billion yen after being in deficit of 337 billion yen in October. At the same time, in terms of trade Japan continues to run deficits in most months, as exports rise slightly, whereas costs of imports are higher. Exports declined 6.3% on an annual basis in November to 5.92 trillion yen, while imports rose from 6.13 trillion yen to 6.19 trillion yen in the measured month.
Falling oil prices and recent strength of the Japanese Yen, which may push import prices down and improve the trade balance, is predicted to help the economy keep the current account surplus in coming months. The value of crude oil imports plunged about 40.9% as average oil prices declined 47.7% to 47.48 dollars per barrel in the month.
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