Current account surplus widens in September

South Korea’s current account surplus widened in September from the previous month as exports expanded at a faster rate than imports, the central bank said Tuesday.

The current account surplus reached $6.07 billion in September, up from a revised $2.5 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.

The September figure marked the largest surplus since a record high of $6.14 billion in July.

The September surplus marked the eighth straight month of a surplus run worth $28.5 billion, the BOK said. The central bank’s 2012 estimates for the current account surplus was revised up to $34 billion from $20 billion.

Despite weaker exports and the slowing growth, the local currency has appreciated more than 5 percent to the dollar so far this year as foreign capital continued to flow into Korea amid quantitative easing by major economies.

South Korea’s goods balance logged a surplus of $5.64 billion in September, up from a revised $2.51 billion the previous month, the BOK added. It marked the highest surplus since 1980 when the BOK began to compile related data. (Yonhap News)