Robust Earnings From Investments Overseas Helps Japan Record Highest Current Account Surplus

Tokyo: Japan recorded a current account surplus of 21.87 trillion yen ($199 billion) in December, the largest in a decade, due to robust earnings from investments overseas, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

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The figure was 7.5 per cent higher than in 2016, when the surplus amounted to 20.3 trillion yen, reports Efe news agency. The government released the preliminary data for 2017 together with the figures for December, in which the current account surplus was 797.2 billion yen.

December marked the 42nd straight month of the nation's current account being in surplus.

The current account measures a country's trade in goods and services, payments from investments and other transfers.

IANS