The current account surplus rose 10.4 percent in August from a year earlier due mainly to a sharp fall in imports, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The surplus in the current account expanded for the first time in two months on a year-to-year basis, totaling ¥1.171 trillion, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

The surplus continued for the seventh straight month, while there are some positive signs in the global economy.

Last month, leaders of the Group of 20 economies agreed in Pittsburgh that countries with a current account surplus, including Japan and China, need to boost domestic demand to help put the global economy on a sustained growth track.

In August, Japan's balance of trade in goods and services posted a surplus of ¥180.9 billion against a deficit of ¥257.0 billion a year ago, the ministry said.

But exports fell 37.1 percent to ¥4.23 trillion for the 11th straight monthly decline as demand for Japan's mainstay products, including cars and machinery, have yet to fully recover in developed countries.

Imports plunged 42.8 percent to ¥3.923 trillion, down ¥2.93 trillion from a year earlier — the largest contraction since officials began compiling comparable data in January 1986, according to the ministry.

The sharp fall in imports was a result of the price of crude oil in August averaging about $68 per barrel, about half of what it was a year earlier.