Korea maintained a current account surplus for 17 straight months in June, and hit a record high for the first half of this year, the Bank of Korea reported on Tuesday.
The current account, the broadest measure of trade, recorded a surplus of $7.24 billion in June.
Although June’s surplus was less than the $8.64 billion from the previous month, Korea managed to maintain a positive streak thanks to brisk exports of IT and electronic products.
Exports to Korea’s top trading partners such as China, the U.S. and Europe increased despite the regional slowdowns. Korean exports totaled $45.36 billion in June and $279.73 billion in the first half.
Its first-half surplus reached a record of $29.77 billion, breaking its previous record of $22.1 billion in the first half of 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
The country was then trying to revive the economy through exports on a weak currency as the last resort amid tightened spending while on bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund.
Its first-half surplus was $800 million higher than the initial estimation, and the Bank of Korea expects Korea’s full-year current account surplus to reach 53 billion won should there be no significant shocks to the global markets.
The central bank had indicated that Korea’s current account surplus will be able to back the country in achieving solid growth this year, projecting 3.7 percent in the second half.
The central bank recently changed its full-year economic growth projection from 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent on the back of the government’s fiscal stimulus and the BOK’s key rate cut in May.
By Park Hyong-ki (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)
