Japan's Jan.-June Current Account Surplus Hits 2nd-Highest Level

   Tokyo, Aug. 8 (Jiji Press)--Japan's current account surplus in January-June jumped 59.2 pct from a year before to 12,681.7 billion yen, the second largest on a first-half basis, Finance Ministry data showed Thursday.
   The result came partly because the goods trade deficit shrank substantially thanks to strong automobile exports. Also, the travel account surplus hit a record high due to a rise in the number of foreign visitors to Japan.
   Japan's deficit in goods trade came to 2,611.8 billion yen, smaller than the year-before deficit of 5,182 billion yen. Exports of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment were also strong.
   The country's overall exports grew 6.7 pct to 50,606.8 billion yen, while imports rose 1.1 pct to 53,218.5 billion yen.
   In services trade, Japan suffered a deficit of 1,751.1 billion yen, narrower than 2,068.9 billion yen in deficit a year before. The surplus in the travel account stood at 2,593.9 billion yen as the number of visitors to the country grew 1.6-fold.

(2024/08/08-13:55)

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