Japan's Current-Account Surplus Contracts for First Time in Three Months

Japan’s current account surplus narrowed for the first time in three months in November after import growth accelerated.

The gap shrank 15.7 percent from a year earlier to 926.2 billion ($11 billion), the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today. The median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a surplus of 972.5 billion yen.

Today’s report reinforces economists’ view that Japan’s gross domestic product shrank last quarter for the first time in more than a year. The export-dependent economy has been weakened by a 15 percent strengthening in the yen in 2010 and cooler overseas demand as stimulus measures expire.

“Japan needs a bit more time to regain momentum,” Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo, said before the report. “The recovery in exports isn’t strong enough to lead the economy yet.”

GDP shrank at an annual 0.75 percent pace in the three months ended in December, the first drop since the third quarter of 2009, before growing 0.5 percent this quarter, according to the median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Recent data suggest the economy will regain traction. Factory output increased for the first time in six months in November. The leading index, the broadest economic indicator, rose for the first time in five months in the same month, government reports showed.

Exports climbed 9.3 percent, while imports advanced 15.7 percent, today’s report showed.

To contact the reporters on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net;