Japan half-yr current account surplus up 11%, trade deficit shrinks

Japan posted a current account surplus of 8.01 trillion yen ($56 billion) in the first half of 2023, up 11.1 percent from a year earlier due to a smaller trade deficit and record foreign investment returns aided by a weaker yen, government data showed Tuesday.The improvement came as the current account surplus in June roughly tripled from a year earlier to 1.51 trillion yen, after the resource-scarce nation recorded its first trade surplus in nearly two years.The current account balance is one of the widest gauges of international trade.Surging import costs for energy, raw materials and oth…READ FULL ARTICLE