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Japan's current account surplus logged in 2022 was almost 50 per cent lower than the previous year, marking its lowest level in eight years, owing to a record trade deficit due to an upsurge in imports and the yen's weakness, the Finance Ministry said in a report on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry, the current account in 2022 stood at 11.44 trillion yen ($87.26 billion), with a record contraction year on year, resulting from surging import costs coming despite the primary income logging a record surplus, reports Xinhua news agency.

The country's trade deficit totaled 15.78 trillion, with imports climbing 42 per cent to 114.47 trillion yen and exports up 19.9 per cent to 98.69 trillion yen, it said, adding that the value of both was the largest since record-keeping began.

In December alone, Japan logged a current account surplus of 33.4 billion yen, a record low for the month, dropping 90.9 per cent from a year earlier, the Ministry's data showed.

With imports outpacing exports, the trade deficit rose three-fold to 1.23 trillion yen, with the primary income totaling a record for December at 1.80 trillion yen.

Japan's current account surplus is one of the broadest measures of its trade with the rest of the world.

The data is keenly eyed by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Finance Ministry ahead of new potential policy changes or monetary easing or tapering measures.

In Japan, the current account surplus increases the nation's net foreign assets by the corresponding amount, and a current account deficit does the reverse.

Both the Japanese government and private payments are included in the calculation and it is called the current account because goods and services are generally consumed in the current period.