Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 4.81 billion U.S. dollars in August, staying in black since May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
For the first eight months of this year, the current account surplus amounted to 10.98 billion dollars, far lower than 23.66 billion dollars tallied in the eight-month period of last year.
Trade surplus for goods came to 5.06 billion dollars in August, up from a surplus of 4.44 billion dollars in July.
Export reduced 6.5 percent from a year earlier to 53.75 billion dollars in August, while import plunged 21.0 percent to 48.68 billion dollars.
Services account deficit reached 1.60 billion dollars in August, down from a deficit of 2.53 billion dollars in the prior month owing to lower travel account deficit.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 1.47 billion dollars in August on high overseas interest income.
Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 5.73 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents rose by 3.41 billion dollars, and foreign direct investment in South Korea increased by 1.70 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents gained by 3.05 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds shrank by 1.01 billion dollars.
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