国际英语新闻：Japan's current account surplus rises 2.9% on year in October

TOKYO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan's current account surplus increased 2.9 percent in October from a year earlier to 1,436.2 billion yen (17.20 billion U.S. dollars), according to official data released by the Ministry of Finance Wednesday.

Additionally, the ministry noted that the balance of trade in goods and services logged a surplus of 638.4 billion yen (7.64 billion U.S. dollars) in the recording period, a rise of 4.4 percent on year.

The balance of trade is the difference between Japan's exports of goods and services and its imports of goods and services, if all financial transfers, investments and other components are ignored.

Positive net sales by Japan abroad generally contributes to a current account surplus.

Japan's current account balance is one of the major gauges of the nature of Japan's foreign trade.

A current account surplus increases Japan's net foreign assets by the corresponding amount, and a current account deficit does the reverse.

Both government and private payments are included in the calculation.