Current account balance was a deficit of 660 million U.S. dollars in April, turning into the red for the first time since the same month of 2012, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The current account balance refers to the broadest measure of cross-border trade that includes trade balances for goods and services as well as capital flow to and from the country.
The downturn was mainly attributed to the continued fall in export, which accounts for about half of the economy.
The export contracted 6.2 percent over the year to 48.3 billion dollars in April, keeping a downward momentum for the fifth consecutive month.
Import rose 1.8 percent to 42.63 billion dollars in the same period, sending the trade surplus to 5.67 billion dollars.
The surplus was down compared with the previous month.
For the first four months of this year, the outbound shipment amounted to 185.8 billion dollars, down 7.8 percent compared with the same period of last year.
Import shrank 5.3 percent to 160.52 billion dollars during the January-April period. The trade surplus came to 25.28 billion dollars in the period.
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