South Korea’s Current Account Surplus Increases in February

The Bank of Korea announced on April 7 that South Korea’s current account surplus totaled US$6.41 billion in February this year, up 66.5 percent from a year ago.

South Korea posted a current account surplus for 84 months in a row until March last year. After a deficit in April 2019, the country remained in the black from May that year to February this year. February 2020 had more business days than the same month of the previous year and export volumes such as the semiconductor export volume increased in February this year to result in the expansion of the surplus.

The goods account surplus increased US$1.16 billion year on year to US$6.58 billion. The country’s exports and imports increased in 15 months and 10 months, respectively. Specifically, the exports in February rose 4 percent year on year to US$41.82 billion with the semiconductor export volume jumping 51.3 percent.

South Korea’s exports to China fell 6.7 percent on a customs clearance basis. However, its exports to the United States and Southeast Asia offset the decline. South Korea’s imports rose 1.3 percent to US$35.24 billion in February this year.

Its service account deficit decreased US$90 million year on year to US$1.45 billion as its travel account improved. In February this year, the number of people visiting South Korea fell 43 percent year on year to 690,000 and that of those who went abroad dropped 60 percent to 1.05 million.