Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 5.42 billion U.S. dollars in September, staying in black since May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
For the first nine months of this year, the current account surplus amounted to 16.58 billion dollars, far lower than 25.75 billion dollars tallied in the same nine-month period of last year.
Trade surplus for goods came to 7.42 billion dollars in September, up from a surplus of 5.21 billion dollars in August.
Export shed 2.4 percent from a year earlier to 55.65 billion dollars in September, while import dropped 14.3 percent to 48.23 billion dollars.
Services account deficit was 3.19 billion dollars in September, up from a deficit of 1.57 billion dollars in the previous month owing to the continued travel account deficit.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 1.57 billion dollars in September on higher overseas dividend income.
Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 4.52 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents grew by 2.0 billion dollars, and foreign direct investment in South Korea increased by 350 million dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents gained by 6.57 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds expanded by 1.37 billion dollars.
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