Japan's current account surplus for May jumped 154.9 percent from a year earlier to 906.8 billion yen, posting the second straight month of increase, according to provisional figures released July 9.
As they have in the past, Finance Ministry officials said they do not foresee a continued trend of substantial rises, citing structural changes in the economy. The officials attributed the rise in May in part to the consumption tax increase in April.
"We still need to monitor future changes (in the surplus figures) to determine whether there has been a turnaround in its declining trend," one official said. A further increase in the surplus could rekindle trade disputes with Japan's major trading partners, in particular the United States.