S.Korea posts current account surplus for 7 months
Source: Xinhua | 2021-01-09
South Korea posted current account surplus for seven straight months owing to an export recovery, central bank data showed Friday.
The current account surplus amounted to 8.97 billion U.S. dollars in November, up 50.3 percent from 5.97 billion dollars tallied a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Current account balance stayed in black since May. For the first 11 months of 2020, the current account surplus stood at 63.94 billion dollars, up 14.9 percent compared to the same period of 2019.
Trade surplus for goods increased to 9.54 billion dollars in November from 7.39 billion dollars a year earlier.
Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, grew 1.1 percent over the year to 47.02 billion dollars in November, while import reduced 4.2 percent to 37.48 billion dollars.
The services account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transport cost and royalties, recorded a deficit of 720 million dollars in November, but it was 1.17 billion dollars from a year ago.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 420 million dollars in November, down from 970 million dollars a year earlier.
Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, logged a net outflow of 8.95 billion dollars in the month.
Overseas direct investment by local residents expanded 3.33 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea grew 1.33 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, overseas investment by domestic residents increased 9.41 billion dollars. Foreign investment in local stocks and bonds gained 4.32 billion dollars.
Busiunion
Busiunion