TOKYO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan posted a current account surplus in April for the 34th successive month as a sharp increase in the travel surplus more than offset a shrinking trade surplus, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report on Thursday.
According to the ministry, the current account surplus stood at 1.95 trillion yen (18 billion U.S. dollars) in April, marking the highest since 2007.
The travel surplus totaled 177.9 billion yen, the ministry said, marking the largest ever, as a record 2.58 million visitors came to the country in the recording period.
Goods trade, meanwhile, registered a surplus of 553.6 billion yen and the trade surplus was buoyed by rising imports to Asian countries and a rise in the value of energy imports.
Overall, imports increased 14.0 percent to 5.63 trillion yen in value, while exports increased 10.0 percent to 6.18 trillion yen, the ministry said.
Crude oil imports alone surged 61.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the ministry.
The surplus in the primary income account, which shows how much Japan earns from foreign investments, came to 1.85 trillion yen, rising 5.9 percent from a year earlier, the ministry's figures showed.
Japan's current account surplus is one of the broadest measure of its trade with the rest of the world and the data is keenly eyed by the Bank of Japan and the finance ministry ahead of new potential policy changes or monetary easing or tapering measures.
In Japan, the current account surplus increases the nation's net foreign assets by the corresponding amount, and a current account deficit does the reverse.
Both the Japanese government and private payments are included in the calculation and it is called the current account because goods and services are generally consumed in the current period.
