Korea's current account surplus increases to $8.4b in Feb

Published : Apr 5, 2017 - 09:47 Updated : Apr 5, 2017 - 10:32

South Korea's current account surplus rose in February from a year earlier due to an increased surplus in the goods account, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's current account surplus reached $8.4 billion in February, compared with a surplus of $7.62 billion a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

(Yonhap)

The figure represents a surplus for 60 months in a row. The current account is the biggest measure of cross-border trade.

The BOK said the goods account surplus widened to $10.55 billion, up from $7.93 billion a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the services account deficit widened to $2.23 billion from a deficit of $1.16 billion a year earlier due to a rise in overseas trips.

The number of South Koreans who traveled to foreign countries jumped 18.9 percent on-year to 2.23 million in February, according to data compiled by the Korea Tourism Organization.

The primary income account surplus narrowed to $630 million in February from a surplus of $830 million a year earlier.

Exports rose 23 percent on-year to $44.63 billion in February, with imports surging 20.2 percent to $34.08 billion. (Yonhap)