今年一月経常収支與上年比較有顯著改善，貿易赤字減60％

A few weeks ago the Asahi News on-line reported the following:

経常収支が大幅改善　１月前年比、貿易赤字は６割縮小

2015年3月9日09時12分

　財務省が９日発表した１月の国際収支（速報）によると、貿易や投資による日本と海外とのお金のやり取りを示す「経常収支」は６１４億円の黒字だった。過去最大の経常赤字だった前年同月（１兆５８６１億円）から大幅に改善し、７カ月連続の黒字となった。

　輸出額から輸入額を差し引いた「貿易収支」の赤字幅は前年同月より６４・１％縮小し、８６４２億円だった。原油価格の下落で輸入額が減ったためだ。日本企業の海外での稼ぎを示す「第１次所得収支」は５・２％増の１兆４１２９億円だった。

(試譯文)

  According to the announcement of the Treasury Department on the 9^th (March), regarding the international trade balance of payment (preliminary report) in January, the "Current account" which indicated money exchange with Japan due to trade and investment with foreign countries was in the black at 61,400 million yen. It improved substantially compared with the same month a year ago, which had the biggest current account deficit (1,586,100 million yen), and was continuously in the black for 7 months.

  The deficit in the "Trading account", which deducted the value of import from the export value, had dropped by 64.1 % compared with the same month a year ago to stand at 864,200 million yen. It was because the import amount decreased due to a fall in oil price. "The first income and expenditure balance" which reflected the profit of overseas Japanese companies showed a 5.2% increase to stand at 1,412,900 million yen.

Obviously Japan is benefited from a fall in oil price.