Japan's current account surplus shot up 22.1 percent in November from a year earlier to 972.2 billion yen in a sharp turnaround from a 28.6 percent decline in October, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The upturn is largely due to an expansion in the surplus in goods and services trade stemming from a shrinkage of the country's services trade deficit, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
Goods and services trade registered a surplus of 431.1 billion yen, up 7.8 percent, although the merchandise trade surplus declined 3.9 percent to 772.5 billion yen.
Exports increased 9.2 percent to 4.08 trillion yen due to the yen's depreciation, whereas imports leaped 12.8 percent to 3.31 trillion yen on the strength of still-high crude oil prices.