Structural and cyclical movements of the current account in Japan: An alternative measure

The purpose of this study is to analyze fluctuations in the current account in Japan by deconstructing structural and non-structural components with a new method. The study shows that at the beginning of the 1980's, most components of the current account in Japan were structural. After the Plaza agreement in 1985, however, Japan's structural current account sharply decreased. Since the end of 1990s, the structural components increased again and reached nearly 2% of GDP and these movements are generally associated with the structural components of equipment investment. Business fluctuations in Japan and world, especially in the U.S. play an important role in the non-structural current account. Cyclical movements of the current account are remarkable because they include periods of recession, and this tendency was notable in the 1990s.