Japan's current account surplus declined 25.2 percent from a year earlier to 4.99 trillion yen during the first half of 2001, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
This was due mainly to a shrinking merchandise trade surplus provoked by the worldwide economic slowdown, the ministry said.
In June alone, the current account surplus declined for the seventh straight month to 771.2 billion yen, marking a 40.5 percent year-on-year decrease.