TOKYO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan posted a current account surplus for the 33rd straight month in March, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report on Thursday.
The current account surplus stood at 2.91 trillion yen (25 billion U.S. dollars) in March, with goods trade, one of the widest gauges of the country's international trade, booking a surplus of 865.5 billion yen, according to the ministry.
Japan's primary account reveals the amount Japan earns from its investments made overseas.
Japan's current account surplus, however, is one of the broadest measures of its trade with the rest of the world and the data is keenly eyed by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Finance Ministry ahead of new potential policy changes, monetary easing or tapering measures.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday vowed to start thinking about plans for the central bank to exit from its aggressive monetary easing measures.
During a parliamentary session, the BOJ chief said that it is very important to explain clearly how the central bank will attempt to taper its large-scale monetary easing that has been implemented during Kuroda's tenure.
Along with sizable asset purchases under Kuroda's stewardship since he assumed the post in 2013, the BOJ has eased its monetary policy to levels not seen before in Japan and in January last year, the bank opened to plunge its interest rate for the first time into negative territory.
In September 2016, the central bank adopted a "yield-curve control" policy which functions to keep long-term interest rates exceedingly low by adjusting the amount of its bond purchases.
The BOJ to date has acquired in excess of 40 percent of the Japanese government's outstanding bonds.
But such aggressive monetary easing measures functioning simultaneously have led some economists to believe that they might be disruptive to the normal functioning of Japan's economy and its financial system, and hence it might be time to consider tapering them.
