January current account surplus hits nine-month low

This January, Korea's current account surplus shrank to its lowest level in nine months. The decline was mainly attributed to a decrease in working days and a sharp drop in exports and the travel balance.

According to the "Preliminary International Balance of Payments Statistics" released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Friday, the current account surplus for January was recorded at $2.94 billion. Although the country maintained a surplus for the 21st consecutive month, the surplus amount was the smallest since April last year.

In particular, exports totaled $49.81 billion, marking a 9.1% year-on-year decrease, which contributed to the reduction in the current account surplus. This was the first decline in exports in one year and four months since September 2023 (-1.6%). The service account recorded a deficit of $2.06 billion, mainly due to a surge in outbound travelers during the winter break and the Lunar New Year holidays, which widened the travel account deficit to $1.68 billion.

The BOK projected that the current account surplus for February would be larger than that of January. However, for the year as a whole, the surplus is expected to shrink due to sluggish performance in industries outside the information technology (IT) sector. "The global supply expansion of Chinese products and the potential increase in tariffs on key items will likely lead to weak performance in the non-IT sector,” said Song Jae-chang, head of the BOK's Financial Statistics Department. "Additionally, trade conflicts and ongoing negotiations between major trade partners remain unresolved, adding to the uncertainty."


강우석기자 wskang@donga.com