Japan posted a more than sixfold increase in its current account surplus in April, to ¥1.32 trillion ($12 billion), as the trade balance swung back into the black due to a surge in exports compared with a year earlier, when the COVID-19 pandemic stalled economic activity, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The current account, one of the widest gauges of international trade, remained in the black for the 82nd month in April, helped by a rise in investment returns, according to the ministry's preliminary report.

A year-on-year increase of ¥1.12 trillion in the current account surplus is the largest since August 2015, a ministry official said.