Korea logs current account surplus for 19th straight month in November

Container ships are seen loaded with cargo at Busan Port, in this Dec. 7, 2021 file photo. Yonhap

South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 19th straight month in November, but the surplus was much smaller than a year earlier due to the increased costs of imports driven by high energy and raw material prices, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The surplus amounted to $7.16 billion, down from a surplus of $9.18 billion tallied in November 2020, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

This was the 19th straight month for the current account to be in the black since May 2020. The November figure was slightly larger than the surplus of $6.95 billion recorded in October.

During the January-November period, the country posted a cumulative account surplus of $84.23 billion.

The year-on-year decline in the surplus stemmed mostly from sharply increased costs of imports amid high commodity prices, including crude oil.

Imports came to $53.7 billion in November, up $16.74 billion from a year earlier. The rise was driven mostly by a 72.9 percent surge in raw material prices ― in particular, crude oil jumped 127.8 percent, the data showed.

With the rise in imports, the goods balance measuring inbound and outbound shipments saw its surplus decline to $5.95 billion in November from the previous year's $9.95 billion.

November's exports totaled $59.65 billion compared with $46.92 billion a year earlier.

The services account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips, for the month posted a deficit of $140 million, compared with a deficit of $980 million a year earlier. The deficit, however, marked a turnaround from the previous month's surplus of $630 million.

Despite the year-on-year contraction, the services account was propped up partly by strong transport revenue amid high shipping rates. Transport revenue amounted to $4.49 billion in November, sharply larger than the previous year's $2.4 billion, the data showed.

The primary income account, which tracks wages of foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, logged a surplus of $1.49 billion, larger than a surplus of $480 million in the previous year as dividend income increased.

The capital and financial account, which covers cross-border investments, posted a net inflow of $6.54 billion in November, smaller than a net inflow of $9.8 billion a year earlier, the data showed. (Yonhap)