Japan saw a current account surplus of 116.4 billion yen in March, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday - remaining in the black for the second straight month.
The headline figure was shy of forecasts for a surplus of 347.7 billion yen following the 612.7 billion yen surplus in February.
The trade balance showed a deficit of 1,133.6 billion yen - missing expectations for a shortfall 1,125.4 billion yen following the 533.4 billion yen deficit in the previous month.
The financial account showed a surplus of 368.6 billion yen after posting a 731.9 billion yen shortfall in the previous month.
The capital account reflected a deficit of 56.0 billion yen after showing a shortfall of 4.2 billion yen a month earlier.
On an adjusted basis, the current account deficit was 782.9 billion yen - missing forecasts for a shortfall of 545.8 billion yen following the upwardly revised 36.1 billion yen deficit in February (originally -41.7 billion).
Also on Monday, the Bank of Japan said that overall bank lending in Japan was up 2.2 percent on year in April, standing at 414.022 trillion yen. That's down from the 2.3 percent increase in March.
Including trusts, bank lending added an annual 2.1 percent to 476.596 trillion yen - roughly unchanged from the previous month.
Lending from trusts gained 1.2 percent to 62.573 trillion yen, while lending from foreign banks spiked an annual 7.4 percent to 2.161 trillion yen.
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