Current Account Surplus Recorded $1.7 in June

The nation posted a $1.76 billion current account surplus in June thanks to recovering exports. The surplus for two consecutive months was well above the earlier expectation.

“The goods account balance through import and export posted a $2.79 billion surplus, up from $1.68 billion in May,” the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday.

Exports accounted for $15.8 billion while imports accounted for $13 billion. However, service account, income account, and current transfers account balance saw deficits.

Accordingly, the current account saw a $1.76 surplus, bringing the accumulated current account balance for the first half of this year to an $850 million surplus.

The amount of the June surplus, a 25-month-high since May 2001, was much higher than $ 1.4 billion that the BOK predicted early this year.

The service account deficit in June increased from $500 million in May due to a reduced surplus in transportation balance and losses in the travel balance.

“The large current account surplus in June is attributed to a big improvement in the goods balance,” said Cho Sung-jong, director general of the BOK`s economics statistics department. “However, the surplus amount is expected to fall in July due to the aggravating service account balance and a decreased goods balance,” he forecast.

Chi-Young Shin higgledy@donga.com