Japan's current account surplus likely reached a record high in March

Japan will release March current account (C/A) data on 13 May. A current account surplus of JPY 1.96tn is expected, the highest since October 2010. 

The current account surplus tends to be high in March owing to seasonal factors, particularly primary income inflows, which likely reached JPY 2.1bn this year on repatriation and a relatively weak Japanese yen (JPY). 

The trade balance was a positive JPY 229bn in March for the first time in nearly three years, on increased exports and a slowdown in imports.

"We expect the trade balance to gradually recover later this year, and recently raised our 2015 C/A forecast to 1.6% of GDP from 0.8%", says Standard Chartered.