TOKYO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan logged a current account surplus of 2.05 trillion yen (13.1 billion U.S. dollars) in April, a record high for the month, buoyed by a growth in foreign investment returns, government data showed on Monday.
Primary income, which reflects returns on foreign investment, totaled 3.83 trillion yen, up 26.7 percent from the previous year, also a record high for April, boosted by growth in foreign direct investments by Japanese companies and overseas dividend income, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Direct investment revenue from overseas subsidiaries increased 21.1 percent to 2.06 trillion yen, while interest and dividends from investments in other countries expanded 40.3 percent to 1.74 trillion yen, the data showed.
Goods trade booked a deficit of 661.5 billion yen, growing over four-fold from a year earlier, after exports grew 2.4 percent to 8.43 trillion yen while imports increased 8.5 percent to 9.09 trillion yen.
The overall surplus in the current account, one of the widest gauges of international trade, marked Japan's 15th straight month of black ink, despite an expansion in goods trade deficit from a year earlier. (1 Japanese yen equals 0.0064 U.S. dollars) ■
