South Korea Posts $7.41 Billion Current Account Surplus In December

(RTTNews) - South Korea saw a current account surplus of $7.41 billion in December, the Bank of Korea said on Wednesday.

The goods account recorded an $8.04 billion surplus as exports increased annually by 5.8 percent to $59.00 billion while imports fell 9.3 percent on year to $50.97 billion.

The services account posted a $2.54 billion deficit owing to deficits in the travel accounts and in other business services.

The primary income account recorded a $2.46 billion surplus as dividends earned increased. The secondary income account saw a $0.55 billion deficit.

Looking at the financial account, net assets increased by $5.68 billion during December.

Direct investment assets increased by $5.83 billion, and direct investment liabilities increased by $1.41 billion, resulting in a net increase of $4.42 billion.

There was a $3.04 billion increase in portfolio investment assets during the month, and a $2.83 billion increase in portfolio investment liabilities, leading to a net increase of $0.21 billion.

Financial derivatives posted a net increase of $1.27 billion.

In terms of other investments, there was a net decrease of $1.61 billion with a decrease of $6.02 billion in assets and a decrease of $4.41 billion in liabilities.

Reserve assets increased by $1.40 billion.

For all of 2023, the current account surplus was $35.49 billion and the financial account surplus was $32.39 billion.