Seoul, Aug 3 (IANS): South Korea kept the longest trend of current account surplus for 40 months, resulting in the largest surplus of over $50 billion in the first half of this year.
Current account surplus hit the monthly high of $12.19 billion in June, up 41.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account balance stayed in the black for the longest 40 months since March 2012, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
The surplus topped the previous monthly high of $11.32 billion in November 2014, maintaining the trend of a "recession-type" surplus in which imports fall at a faster pace than exports.
Helped by the continued monthly surplus, the first-half surplus amounted to $52.39 billion, topping the $50 billion mark for the first time in history.
The central bank had set its 2015 outlook for current account surplus at $98 billion amid lower crude oil prices that reduced energy import costs. The country kept a record-breaking surplus for two years with $81.15 billion in 2013 and $89.22 billion in 2014.
Trade surplus for goods increased from $9.16 in May to $13.22 in June due to the fast decline in imports.
Exports slid two percent from a year earlier to $49.30 in June on the back of soft demand for locally-made consumer electronics, ships and oil products. Imports plunged 17.3 percent to $36.08 billion last month.
According to the government data, at least 130,000 foreign tourists cancelled their travel plan to South Korea in June alone.
Service account deficit, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, expanded from $0.4 billion in May to $2.49 billion in June.
Primary income surplus, which includes monthly salaries and investment income, gained from $0.29 billion in May to $1.68 billion in June due to a rise in dividend income.
Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, logged an outflow of $10.49 billion in June, up from $8.81 billion in May.
Outflow in direct investment jumped from $1.2 billion in May to $4.99 billion in June as local players increased direct investment into foreign countries.
Portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, posted an outflow of $6.5 billion in June, up from $0.36 billion.
Other investment account, including trade credit and foreign debts, turned into an inflow of $2.24 billion in June from an outflow of $4.76 billion in May.