The harvest from those trees is a major reason for the current surplus and low prices.

The current account surplus totaled $28.92 billion for the first half of the financial year.

The current surplus in the trust fund exceeds $10 billion and is growing each year.

Despite the huge amount of interest received (nearly $9 billion a year), there was on average over the period hardly any current account surplus.

Pray tell, how can all countries run current account surpluses at the same time?

On the positive side, rich natural gas resources were developed, providing a current account trade surplus during most of the period.

Japan's current account surplus grew 13 percent in March from the month a year earlier, for a ninth straight increase.

Japan's current account surplus grew 2.3 percent in August from the month a year ago, the 14th consecutive such increase.

Europe is not running chronic trade and "current account" surpluses with the rest of the world.

Japan's current account surplus grew 34 percent in November from the month a year ago, the fifth straight increase.