By Jason Clenfield
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's current-account surplus narrowed for a sixth month in August as record oil prices pushed up the nation's import bill.
The surplus shrank 52.5 percent to 988.8 billion ($9.7 billion) from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today. The median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for the gap to narrow to 1.19 trillion yen.
Crude oil has fallen 46 percent since reaching a record in July, providing some relief to companies whose profits have been falling for four quarters as margins tightened. Still, export growth is likely to slow in coming months as downturns in the U.S. and Europe worsen and China shows signs of faltering.
``At the end of the day, Japanese growth is trade dependent,'' said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. ``The world economy is slowing and Japanese exporters can't escape that.''
Imports climbed 20.2 percent in August from a year earlier, today's report showed. Japan gets virtually all of its oil from abroad. Exports rose 0.9 percent.
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: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net
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