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| Bank of Korea Director Park Seung-hwan speaks during a press conference on the nation's current accounts at the central bank's main office in Seoul, Monday. Park said Korea's exports fell 10.6 percent in the first half from a year ago. / Yonhap |
Current account surplus reaches record $12.19 bil.
By Kim Jae-won
Korea's exports plunged 11 percent in the first half of this year dragged down by poor performances in home electronics and petroleum products, the central bank said Monday.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its exports drop 10.6 percent to $279 billion for the first six months of this year from a year ago.
Exports of home electronics fell 23.6 percent to $5.3 billion, while those of petroleum products dived 36 percent to $16.9 billion.
"Low oil prices hit exporters hard, particularly those from the petroleum industry. Sluggish economic growth in China also remained obstacles for them," said Hwang Sang-pil, head of the international accounts team at the BOK.
Korea's exports tumbled in most regions except the United States and South America during the January-to-June period. Exports to Japan dropped 17.6 percent to $13.3 billion while those to the EU fell 14.7 percent to $23.5 billion, according to the BOK.
However, the nation's current account surplus soared to a fresh record high in June as an increase in the surplus of goods balance offset a widening service account deficit caused by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The current account surplus reached $12.19 billion in June, compared with a revised $8.62 billion surplus in May, according to provisional data released by the central bank. The current account is the biggest measure of cross-border trade.
With the latest data, the Korean economy posted an accumulative current account surplus of a record $52.39 billion for the January-June period, compared with a $39.43 billion surplus last year.
The amount accounts for roughly 54 percent of the central bank's annual current account surplus estimate of $98 billion. Last month, the BOK raised its forecast to $98 billion from $96 billion, citing a fall in raw material prices and sluggish sales in the tourism industry.
The month-on-month surplus increase was largely attributed to a gain in the balance of goods, which reached $13.22 billion in June as imports fell at a sharper pace than exports. While exports fell 2 percent year-on-year, imports tumbled 17.3 percent.
A gain in the primary income account surplus also helped boost the monthly current account surplus. The primary income account surplus reached $1.68 billion in June, growing more than fivefold from a $293.6 million surplus the previous month on a rise in dividend income.
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