Japan had a current account surplus of 520.8 billion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.
That missed forecasts for a surplus of 700 billion yen following the 960.7 billion yen surplus in December.
The trade balance showed a deficit of 411.0 billion yen - beating forecasts for a shortfall of 530 billion yen following the 188.7 billion yen deficit in the previous month.
Exports were down 15.4 percent on year to 5.355 trillion yen, while imports skidded 19.8 percent to 5.766 trillion yen.
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