Seoul, April 8 (Yonhap News Agency) - The Bank of Korea (the central bank) released preliminary verified data on April 8 showing that South Korea's current account balance of payments recorded a surplus of 23.19 billion U.S. dollars in February this year, setting a record high for a single month in history and maintaining a surplus for 34 consecutive months.
Specifically, the trade surplus in goods in February was 23.36 billion US dollars, approximately 2.6 times that of the same period last year, setting a new historical record. The balance of trade in services recorded a deficit of 1.86 billion US dollars. Among them, the tourism revenue and expenditure recorded a deficit of 1.26 billion US dollars.
In terms of goods trade, the export volume was 70.37 billion US dollars, increasing by 29.9% year-on-year. Although the number of working days in February decreased due to the Spring Festival holiday, the export of IT products such as semiconductors continued to improve, boosting export performance. According to customs data, exports of computer peripheral products (183.6%), semiconductors (157.9%), wireless communication equipment (23%), etc. have increased significantly. On the contrary, passenger vehicles (-22.9%), precision mechanical instruments (-13.5%), and chemical industrial products (-7.4%) decreased. Exports to Southeast Asia (54.6%), China (34.1%), the United States (28.5%) and other regions have increased. During the same period, imports reached 47 billion US dollars, increasing by only 4% year-on-year. Among them, the import of raw materials decreased by 2%, capital goods increased by 16.7%, and consumer goods rose by 13.6%.
The primary income account of the balance of payments, which reflects wages, dividends, interests, etc., achieved a surplus of 2.48 billion US dollars. South Korea's outward direct investment increased by 3.81 billion US dollars, and foreign direct investment in South Korea rose by 940 million US dollars. South Korea's outbound securities investment increased by 8.64 billion US dollars, while foreign securities investment in South Korea decreased by 11.94 billion US dollars. (End
Source: Yonhap News Agency
