TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's trade surplus with the world slipped 12.6 percent in April from the same month last year in an indication that growth in the imbalance may be slowing, the government said Monday. The merchandise trade surplus, the measure of all goods exported by Japan minus those imported, decreased to 1.069 trillion yen, or $8.62 billion, the Finance Ministry said. The April surplus was slightly lower than the average forecast of 1.099 trillion yen by Tokyo-based economists. Japan's politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States edged up 2.1 percent to 596.50 billion yen, or $4.59 billion, the ministry said. Japan, fighting its worst recession in 50 years, has been under heavy pressure from the United States and other trading partners to rein in the surplus by bolstering its weak economy to spark demand for imports. A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the ``general tendency seems to be that surplus growth is slowing.'' Japan's trade surplus had consistently grown more than 20 percent on year for a string of months until last October. After that trend was broken by a 16.2 percent drop in November, the surplus has since alternated back and forth between falls and rises. The trade surplus in March, the last month of the fiscal year, increased 7.5 percent from the same month last year. That figure followed a 32.2 percent decrease in February. In fiscal 1998, Japan's overall trade surplus rose 23 percent from the previous year to reach the second highest total ever recorded. -=-=- 