South Korea logged current account surplus for the third successive month in July on faster fall in import than export, central bank data showed Friday.
Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 3.58 billion U.S. dollars in July, staying in the black since May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Trade surplus for goods came to 4.28 billion dollars in July, up from a surplus of 3.98 billion dollars in June.
Export retreated 14.8 percent from a year earlier to 50.43 billion dollars in July, while import plunged 22.7 percent to 46.15 billion dollars.
Services account deficit reached 2.53 billion dollars in July, topping 2.5 billion dollars for the second straight month amid a growing number of local residents going on overseas trip.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 2.92 billion dollars in July on high overseas dividend income.
Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 3.72 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents rose by 2.42 billion dollars, and foreign direct investment in South Korea gained by 1.65 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents jumped by 6.90 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds climbed by 2.60 billion dollars.
READ ALSO:
