By Keiko Ujikane
Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's current-account surplus narrowed for a fourth month in June as exports fell and record oil prices pushed up the import bill.
The surplus shrank 67.4 percent to 493.9 billion yen ($4.5 billion) from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today. The median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for the gap to decrease to 494.7 billion yen.
Rising energy and raw material costs are taking a toll on sales abroad as well as spending by companies and consumers at home, threatening the nation's longest postwar expansion. Japan's economy shrank last quarter, bringing the country to the brink of its first recession in six years, a separate report showed today.
``We are becoming more downbeat on the global economies,'' said Takehiro Sato, chief Japan economist at Morgan Stanley Japan. ``Worsening terms of trade alongside rising import prices'' have become more pronounced.
Exports fell 1.5 percent in June from a year earlier, compared with a 4.2 percent gain in May, today's report showed. Imports climbed 17.8 percent, compared with 4 percent in May. Japan imports virtually all of its oil. Crude oil surged to a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.
Higher import costs are being reflected in wholesale prices in Japan, which rose 7.1 percent to a 27-year high in July from a year earlier, a central bank report showed yesterday.
The current account tracks the flow of goods, services and investment income between Japan and its trading partners. It includes trade not shown in the customs-cleared balance.
To contact the reporter on this story: Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at kujikane@bloomberg.net
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