The country's current account surplus grew 42.7 percent in October from a year earlier to ¥1.398 trillion for the third straight month of improvement, helped by an expanding trade surplus, the government said Tuesday.
The current account, the broadest gauge of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, stayed in the black for the ninth month running, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
The surplus in the income account, which covers income from Japanese investments in foreign securities and payments by foreign employers in Japan, shrank 30.3 percent to ¥846.5 billion, apparently affected by the recent strength of the yen against the dollar.
The balance of trade in goods and services marked a surplus of ¥618.3 billion, a turnaround from the ¥116.8 billion deficit a year before.
The surplus in merchandise trade stood at ¥949.0 billion, up 594.7 percent, registering the biggest gain since officials started keeping comparable data in January 1986.
Exports fell 24.6 percent to ¥4.966 trillion for the 13th straight month of decline. But the fall in imports was sharper, down 37.7 percent to ¥4.017 trillion for the 12th straight monthly slide, on declines in the prices of crude oil.
The current account "has been gradually improving on the recent recovery in the trade balance," said Yonosuke Iwata, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. The trend will continue on the robustness of exports to Asia, he said.
Exports to China are one of the main engines for the recovery in the balance, a Finance Ministry official said, pointing to shipments of such products as auto parts.
The current account balance is the difference between a country's income from foreign sources and foreign obligations payable, excluding net capital investment.