INTERNATIONAL

Japan’s Trade Surplus Dips in November: The surplus in its current account--the broadest measure of trade in goods and services--shrank to $7.02 billion from $9.55 billion in November of the year before, the Finance Ministry reported. The data offer more evidence that the surplus is declining steadily. The latest figures compare with a $4.31-billion surplus for October. The surplus in trade alone fell to $8.28 billion from $10.93 billion in November 1994. The trade surplus stood at $7.55 billion the previous month. A ministry official said the volume of imports was growing at a pace far faster than that of exports and that the surplus for the January-to-November period last year fell by 14.4% from the same period in 1994. Some economists said the new decreases in the current account surplus may last until June but that the pace of decline would be slower than the sharp falls in the last part of ’95.