Japan's current account surplus hit a record high 18.29 trillion yen in fiscal 2004, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier for a second consecutive record high, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
It was also the third straight year-on-year expansion, and was spurred by brisk exports to the Asian and U.S. markets and a record high surplus in the income account, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
The current account balance -- the broadest gauge of trade in goods and services -- is the difference between a nation's income from foreign sources and foreign obligations payable, excluding net capital investment.