Japan's current account balance swung into a deficit for the first time in five months in June as robust income from overseas investments wasn't enough to make up for ongoing trade deficits, government data showed Friday.
The deficit in the balance stood at 399.1 billion yen (3.91 billion U.S. dollars), in the recording period, more than the median estimate of 324.3 billion yen (3.18 billion dollars) for deficit, the Ministry of Finance said in a preliminary report.
The country's current account balance, one of the widest gauges of international trade for a nation, also fell into red ink in the half year period from January to June of 2014, the first time since comparable data became available in 1985.
During the first half of 2014, Japan's imports jumped 14.7 percent from a year earlier to 41,875.2 billion yen (410.17 billion dollars), while exports climbed 8.1 percent to 35,762.7 billion yen (350.30 billion dollars) sustained by the yen's weakness, said the ministry.
The balance of goods trade marked a record deficit of 6,112.4 billion yen (59.87 billion dollars).
Japan's trade deficit has been expanding since 2011 as it turned to pricy fossil fuel imports to plug the energy gap after turning off nuclear reactors in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
A sharp deterioration in the yen also pushed up the cost of those energy imports.