Japan current account in black for 5th month as trade balance swings to surplus

TOKYO, Aug 08 (CNA) - Japan's current account balance logged the fifth straight month of surplus in June as the trade balance swung to a surplus, government data showed on Tuesday, easing some concerns about any decline in purchasing power of the world's third largest economy.

The current account surplus stood at 1.51 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) in June, Ministry of Finance data showed.

That marked an expansion of about 1 trillion yen from the same month a year earlier and compared with economists' median forecast for a surplus of 1.4 trillion yen in a Reuters poll.

A breakdown of the data showed the trade balance swung to a surplus of 328 billion yen, as trade gains grew 1.4 trillion yen from the same month a year ago, resulting in an overall surplus for a fifth straight month, a ministry official said.

However, the primary income surplus narrowed to 1.68 trillion yen, down by 167 billion yen versus the same month a year earlier.

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