Tokyo  – Japan’s current account surplus narrowed 54.4 per cent in April, compared with the same month a year before, to 630.5 billion yen (6.4 billion dollars), the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The decline came as Japan’s exports continued to see falls because of the global recession. The country logged a record current account deficit in January, its first in 13 years.

The export falls, however, were declining. They fell 40.6. per cent in April to 3.92 trillion yen after seeing declines of 46.5 per cent in March and a record 50.4 per cent in February.

April’s imports were also down 37.8 per cent to 3.73 trillion yen, making the goods trade surplus 184.3 billion yen, a plunge of 69.2 per cent.

Japan’s goods and services trade saw its first deficit in three months at 287.3 billion yen.

The services trade deficit expanded 19.9 per cent to 471.7 billion yen.

The income surplus fell 18.5 per cent to 1.06 trillion yen.

The current account balance shows the gap between a country’s income from foreign sources and foreign obligations payable, excluding net capital investment. (dpa)