TOKYO--Japan unexpectedly swung into a current account deficit in October as its massive goods and services trade deficit eradicated the benefits of solid income from overseas investment.
The Y127.9 billion deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, was much worse than the Y420.8 billion surplus the country registered a year earlier, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed Monday. Economists surveyed by the Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal had been expecting a surplus of Y160.1 billion for the month.
A Y1.092 trillion trade deficit was largely responsible for the red ink, the data showed.
The current account measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment. It is calculated by determining the difference between Japan's income from foreign sources against payments on foreign obligations and excludes net capital investment.
Write to Mitsuru Obe at mitsuru.obe@wsj.com
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