SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 28th consecutive month due to lower energy imports, central bank data showed Thursday.
The current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 9.15 billion U.S. dollars in August, staying in black since May 2023, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the largest August figure on the back of lower energy imports.
Trade surplus for goods came to 9.40 billion dollars in August, lower than 10.27 billion dollars in the previous month.
Exports slipped 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 56.44 billion dollars in August, while imports decreased 7.3 percent to 47.04 billion dollars on a double-digit fall in raw materials prices.
Service account deficit stood at 2.12 billion dollars in August, almost unchanged from a deficit of 2.14 billion dollars in July.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 2.07 billion dollars on solid dividend income from foreign stock investment.
Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, achieved a net outflow of 7.88 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents swelled by 1.44 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea climbed by 2.15 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents jumped by 8.41 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds grew by 290 million dollars. ■