The current account surplus shrank 64.3 percent in August from a year earlier to ¥407.5 billion, its lowest level in more than two years, on rising imports amid higher commodity prices, the government said Tuesday.

The balance of international payments, considered the widest gauge of trade for a country, fell for the sixth straight month, also affected by sluggish exports in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami. But it remained in the black, given what Japan earns from its overseas investments.

The surplus was the smallest since January 2009, when the balance fell into the red with a deficit of ¥132.7 billion amid sharp declines in exports due to the global financial turmoil following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008.