Japan’s January current account surplus showed a...

Japan’s January current account surplus showed a sharp drop and is likely to continue to decline over the next two years, economists said. Japan’s current account, the balance of payments for goods and services, had a $3.515 billion surplus in January, down from $4.84 billion in the same month in 1987, the Japanese government said. In December, the surplus was a huge $9.44 billion. “A rapidly growing deficit in trade of services is helping drive the current account surplus down,” said Soichiro Akahane, economist for the Bank of Tokyo. Japan’s balance in travel services is the major reason, he said.