Tokyo, Mar 8 (IANS): Japan's current account deficit in January stood at 1.2 trillion yen ($10 billion), logging the second largest on record since comparable data became available in January 1985, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

The deficit was the highest since January 2014, according to a preliminary report released by the Finance Ministry.

The country's current account balance, one of the widest gauges of international trade, remained in the red for the second straight month, reports Xinhua news agency.

As Japan relies heavily on energy imports, surging energy prices due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused a goods trade deficit of 1.60 trillion yen.

The country's imports increased 39.9 per cent compared to a year earlier, up for the 12th consecutive month, to 8.17 trillion yen.

Purchases of crude oil surged 84.6 per cent while those of coal jumped 167.4 per cent year on year.

Meanwhile, exports rose 15.2 per cent to 6.56 trillion yen, up for the 11th month in a row, buoyed by shipments of iron and steel, light oil and semiconductors.

The travel balance logged a 12.3 billion yen surplus, slightly down from 21.1 billion yen posted a year earlier, as 75,000 people travelled from Japan while only 17,800 people visited the country.

In late November last year, the Japanese government enacted an entry ban on non-resident foreign nationals amid the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.