Tokyo  - Japan's current account surplus shrank for the seventh-straight month in September, slipping 48.8 per cent to 1.5 trillion yen (15.17 billion dollars) as higher energy prices boosted imports, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

Exports in September increased 2.1 per cent from the same month a year earlier to 7 trillion yen, and imports jumped 32.7 per cent to 6.79 trillion yen.

The goods and services trade surplus narrowed 94 per cent to 96.1 billion yen as overseas demand weakened.

The surplus in goods fell 86 per cent to 247.1 billion yen while in services trade, Japan's deficit fell 5.8 per cent to 151 billion yen.

The income surplus, the difference between payments made to foreign investors in Japan and money earned abroad, increased 4.7 per cent to 1.48 trillion yen.

For the first six months of the current fiscal year, which runs through March, the nation's current account surplus shrank 37 per cent to 7.86 trillion yen.

Exports were up 3.1 per cent to 40.99 trillion yen, and imports rose 17.8 per cent in the April-September period to a record 39.4 trillion yen from a year before.

Japan's surplus in goods and services trade nose-dived 89.8 per cent from the first half of the past fiscal year to 492.4 billion yen.

The surplus in goods trade dropped 74.8 per cent to 1.59 trillion yen. In services trade, Japan's deficit shrank 25.9 per cent to 1.1 trillion yen as deficits narrowed in the tourism and transport sectors.

The income account, which includes income from Japanese investments in foreign securities and payments by foreign employers in Japan, declined 2.9 per cent in its surplus to 7.99 trillion yen.

The current account balance, which is considered the broadest gauge of trade, shows the gap between a nation's income from foreign sources and foreign obligations payable, excluding net capital investment. (dpa)