By Reiko Mizutome, BridgeNews
Tokyo--Feb. 14--Japan's current account surplus rose on year in 2000 because of decreases in deficit of service account and increases in surplus of income account, although its trade surplus fell on year, according to an official at the Ministry of Finance. A ministry release said Japan's current account surplus rose 3.7% to 12.621 trillion yen in 2000, after showing a 22.9% fall in 1999.
* * * When asked about the current account surplus trend, the official said, "no specific trend has been seen." He added Japan's trade surplus has been falling due to higher imports. The MOF official said the deficit of service account fell to 5.107 trillion yen in 2000 from 6.151 trillion yen in 1999 because operational costs for overseas subsidiaries were lower in yen terms thanks to a stronger yen in 2000.
Also, the official noted that the financial account, a component account of the service account, posted a surplus in 2000 for the first time since 1991, when the MOF started compiling the account's data. This reflects increases in the commission for security trading and issuance of yen bonds by foreign organizations besides rises in patent fees for Japanese products, he added.
Thanks to deregulation of Japan's security trading, including the abolition of tax for securities trading, trading volumes of Japanese securities of foreign investors have been rising, the official pointed out. Meanwhile, in December, the current account surplus fell 20.7% on year, mainly due to a 21.4% decline in trade surplus, reflecting falls in the trade surplus after showing a 22.1% gain in November. On the other hand, deficit of service account decreased to 437.5 billion yen from 510.2 billion yen in December 1999, reflecting increases in patent fees for Japanese products, such as medicine, automobiles, and information technology products, the official noted. Also, the surplus in the income account tends to rise, reflecting increases in income from interest rate swap trading by Japanese investors, the official said. End