IMF: Korea to Rank 8th in CA Surplus This Year

The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that Korea is expected to post 20.8 billion U.S. dollars in current account surplus this year, eighth largest among 33 advanced economies.

The fund also predicted that Korea’s annual current account surplus will continue to increase over the next five years to reach 28.1 billion dollars in 2014.

Korea last year suffered a current account deficit of 6.4 billion dollars, according to the body`s latest report on the global economic outlook obtained by the Strategy and Finance Ministry.

Among 33 countries, Korea and Iceland, which went from 6.1 billion dollars in the red to 66 million dollars in the black, are the only countries to see a reversal to the positive in the current account surplus. In addition, Taiwan is the only country that will experience an increase in surplus (25 billion to 32.3 billion dollars) this year, according to the forecast.

In contrast, 15 countries are projected to see their current account balances deteriorate. Canada is expected to go into the red, going from a surplus of 9.7 billion dollars last year to a deficit of 10.9 billion dollars this year.

Australia`s deficit of 42.8 billion dollars last year is expected to swell up to 43.9 billion dollars this year. Japan is expected to post the highest current account surplus this year at 76.4 billion dollars, but that figure is half of last year’s 157.1 billion dollars.

The U.S. is projected to post the largest deficit among the 33 surveyed economies, though its deficit will drop from 673.3 billion dollars last year to 393.3 billion dollars this year.

ceric@donga.com