S. Korea's current account surplus narrows in March

Published : May 8, 2019 - 09:10 Updated : May 8, 2019 - 09:10

South Korea's monthly current account surplus narrowed in March from a year earlier amid slowing exports, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's current account surplus came to $4.8 billion in March, down from $5.1 billion a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. But the surplus widened from the previous month's $3.6 billion.

(Yonhap)

The current account has been in the black for 83 straight months.

In the first three months of this year, the country's current account surplus stood at $11.2 billion, marking the smallest surplus on a quarterly basis since the second quarter of 2012, the data showed.

The country's outbound shipments fell 3.9 percent on-year to $137.5 billion in the January-March period, marking the first quarterly decline in exports since the third quarter of 2016.

South Korea's exports also fell 2 percent in April from a year earlier, extending their on-year fall for the fifth consecutive month due to a drawn-out slump in chips and weak demand from China. (Yonhap)