In the first half of 2023, Japan’s current account balance was a surplus of 8.132 trillion yen, up 11% from the same period last year.

The main cause was a lull in high resource prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to an 8% decrease in the trade deficit to 5.1 trillion yen. The expansion of the current account surplus has been considered a factor of the yen’s appreciation, but in recent years the linkage has weakened and the yen has continued to weaken. This is believed to be due to the fact that income from overseas subsidiaries and other sources is not converted into yen and returned to Japan. According to Mizuho Bank’s analysis, the fact that much of the primary income and expenditure is not converted into yen is a factor that prevents the yen from appreciating even if current account surpluses continue. Some observers believe that the structural factor of the yen’s depreciation has not been resolved and that the situation is continuing.