【Skill 2】 Understand how balances have changed from expressions such as 転化 (flip) and ぶり (for the first time in ...)
Understand how balances have changed from the following expressions. Whether a balance has gone into a surplus or into a deficit appears either after 転化 (flip/turn) or に転じ (turn) or before ぶり (for the first time in ...).
■ 黒字転化 (turn a surplus)
■ 赤字に転化し (flip to a deficit)
■ 黒字に転じ (flip to a surplus)
■ 3年ぶりの黒字 (a surplus for the first time in 3 years)
In the following sentence, 黒字 (surplus) appears after 3年ぶり (for the first time in 3 years), which shows that the last time the balance was in a surplus was 3 years ago in 2017, and that in 2018 and 2019 it was in a deficit, but in 2020 it once again went into a surplus.
■ 2020年のサービス収支は、3年ぶりの黒字となった (In 2020, the services balance went into a surplus for the first time in 3 years)