The Korea Herald

지나쌤

S. Korea's current account surplus jumps in Sept.

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Published : Oct. 28, 2011 - 09:33

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SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's current account surplus jumped more than 10-fold in September from the previous month on brisk exports, the central bank said Friday, showing that overseas shipments are weathering global economic uncertainty.

The current account surplus reached US$3.1 billion in September, sharply up from a revised $292.6 million the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade and services.

The September reading rebounded from a seven-month low tallied the previous month, marking the largest surplus since $3.77 billion in July.

The current account remained in the black for the 19th straight month on exports, which account for about 50 percent of the South Korean economy.

The combined surplus amounted to $15.27 billion in the first nine months of this year, raising hopes that the yearly surplus is likely to surpass the central bank's earlier estimate of $15.5 billion.

Analysts said exports have been largely firm, but the dimmer global economic outlook and the eurozone debt crisis are upping economic uncertainty, spawning concerns that Korea's exports may be dented.

BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo told a forum on Thursday that the current account surplus for next year is likely to miss the BOK's estimate of $17 billion due to worsening external conditions.

"The goods balance has kept its underlying surplus trend this year, but export growth is forecast to slow down on deteriorating external situations," Kim said.

South Korea's goods balance posted a surplus of $2.37 billion in September, up from a revised $371.5 million in August, the BOK said.

Exports rose 21.1 percent on-year to $47.5 billion and imports jumped 29.7 percent to $45.1 billion.

The service account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips, posted a surplus of $70.6 million last month, a turnaround from a shortfall of $577.9 million in August.

The primary income account, which tracks wages for foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, logged a surplus of $543 million in September, down from $699.6 million in August.

Meanwhile, the capital and financial account, covering cross-border investments, posted a net outflow of $4.68 billion in September, larger than a net outflow of a revised $1.73 billion in August, the central bank said.