Current account surplus, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, stood at 1.09 billion U.S. dollars in July, down from a surplus of 7.71 billion dollars tallied a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Trade balance for goods logged a deficit of 1.18 billion dollars in July, compared to a surplus of 5.55 billion dollars a year earlier.
It marks the first deficit in over 10 years since April 2012 as higher energy prices have sharply raised import costs.
Export rose 6.9 percent over the year to 59.05 billion dollars in July, while import spiked 21.2 percent to 60.23 billion dollars.
Energy imports jumped 35.5 percent in the cited month, and those for capital and consumer goods advanced 7.6 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
Services account balance, which gauges the flow of travel, transport and royalty, registered a surplus of 340 million dollars in July, compared to a deficit of 280 million dollars in the same month of last year.
Transport account surplus expanded to 1.84 billion dollars in July from 1.48 billion dollars a year earlier, while travel account deficit gained from 500 million dollars to 860 million dollars in the cited period.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, hit a surplus of 2.27 billion dollars in July, down from a surplus of 2.84 billion dollars a year earlier.
Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 180 million dollars in July.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents gained by 5.67 billion dollars, and foreign direct investment in South Korea grew by 2.26 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents climbed by 3.24 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds rose by 4.22 billion dollars.
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