S. Korea's current account turns to black in Dec. but sharply smaller than prior year

South Korea's current account swung back to the black in December from the previous month, but the amount was quite smaller than a year before as exports dwindled amid growing global recession woes, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's current account surplus came to $2.68 billion in December, compared with a shortfall of $220 million a month earlier, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea. The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.

The December figure still represented a marked decline from a surplus of $6.37 billion tallied in the same month a year earlier.

For the whole of 2022, the surplus reached $29.83 billion, which was sharply smaller than an annual surplus of $85.23 billion a year earlier. The amount beat the BOK's surplus forecast of $25 billion. (Yonhap)