S.Korea's current account surplus falls in January on high oil price

S.Korea's current account surplus falls in January on high oil price

Source: Xinhua| 2022-03-11 15:47:43|Editor: huaxia

SEOUL, March 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus fell in January due to higher price for imported crude oil and raw materials, central bank data showed Friday.

Current account surplus, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, amounted to 1.81 billion U.S. dollars in January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

 

The current account balance stayed in black for 21 months since May 2020, but the January figure was down from a surplus of 6.78 billion dollars tallied a year earlier.

 

The sharp fall was attributed to the higher import cost for raw materials and crude oil.

 

Import surged 34.4 percent from a year earlier to 55.46 billion dollars in January, while export gained 19.8 percent to 56.13 billion dollars.

 

Trade surplus stood at 0.67 billion dollars in January, down 4.9 billion dollars from a year ago.

 

Services account balance, which gauges the flow of travel, transport cost and royalty, posted a deficit of 450 million dollars in January, down from a deficit of 930 million dollars a year earlier.

 

Transport account surplus gained to 2.32 billion dollars in January from 930 million dollars a year earlier due to the higher transport cost, while the travel account deficit added from 520 million dollars to 560 million dollars.

 

Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, recorded a surplus of 1.88 billion dollars in January down from a surplus of 2.57 billion dollars a year earlier.

 

Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, registered a net outflow of 660 million dollars in January.

 

Overseas direct investment by domestic residents amounted to 5.2 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea came to 1.52 billion dollars.

 

For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents stood at 5.59 billion dollars in January.

 

Foreign investment in local stocks and bonds came in at 8.25 billion dollars. ■