Japan's Current Account Surplus Hits 1985 Record in First Half of 2024
- Japan's current account surplus reached 17.4292 trillion yen from January to June 2024.
- The increase was mainly driven by higher dividends from overseas subsidiaries.
- This is the highest surplus for the first half since 1985.
- The Ministry of Finance noted growth in both trade and investment income.
- Reflects increased repatriation of profits by Japanese firms abroad.
Japan earned more foreign income in the first half of 2026 than in any comparable period since 1985 — and the yen still averaged 158.24 to the dollar. Both facts come from the same Ministry of Finance release, and together they explain how the yen now works.
The current-account surplus reached 17.43 trillion yen, up 3.20 trillion year on year. Trade flipped back to a 742.1 billion yen surplus as exports rose 12.8% to 59.19 trillion yen, led by semiconductors and electronic parts (up 1.21 trillion, or 41.1%). But the bigger block is primary income: 20.49 trillion yen of dividends, interest and returns from overseas assets, larger than the entire current-account surplus.
Most of that money never converts into yen. The financial account shows 18.75 trillion yen of net outbound portfolio investment, including 17.75 trillion into foreign long- and medium-term bonds. Japan books the earnings abroad and leaves them there.
Tourism cuts the other way. The services deficit widened to 1.82 trillion yen as the travel surplus shrank: 21.08 million foreign visitors in the first half, down 2.0%, while 6.94 million Japanese went abroad, up 5.1%.
Watch three numbers: monthly balance-of-payments releases, the July trade statistics in late August, and JNTO's monthly visitor count.
