Korea sets surplus for record 56th month

Korea maintained its current account surplus for the 56th consecutive month through October, despite a fall in trade and a widened service deficit, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK) Thursday.

However, trade data in November showed a rebound in both exports and imports.

The current account, the broadest measure of trade, stood at $8.72 billion in October, down from $9.58 billion a year ago.

The country was able to achieve the longest-running surplus since 2012 as Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its exports outweigh imports, even though both fell in October.

Korea’s exports reached $43.3 billion in October, down 6.3 percent from a year ago, while imports fell 5 percent to $33.5 billion, narrowing the goods account surplus to $9.83 billion from $10.97 billion.

“The production suspension of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and prolonged management-labor disputes at Hyundai Motor negatively affected exports in October,” a BOK official said.

The BOK cut its growth forecast for 2017 that month to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent after partially reflecting those negative factors.

The services account deficit widened to $1.59 billion from $1.49 billion, although it saw an improvement in the balance of payments for travel and intellectual property (IP) accounts.

The travel account deficit decreased from $900 million to $500 million, while the IP deficit fell from $700 million to about $510 million year-on-year.

The increased services account deficit, overall, was due to a fall in the construction services account, which fell to $570 million from $770 million year-on-year as the government tightened its regulations against housing speculation and loans.

In separate data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, both exports and imports improved in November, despite low consumer and business sentiment amid the political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her close associates including Choi Soon-sil.