À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korea maintained its current account surplus streak for the 11th consecutive month in March on revived global commerce activity and strengthening in freight charges.
The country¡¯s current account logged $7.82 billion in surplus in March, stronger than $5.94 billion in the same month a year ago but slight off from $7.94 billion the previous month, according to data released from the Bank of Korea on Friday.
For the January to March period, the current account surplus amounted to $22.82 billion, surging 76.5 percent compared with the same period last year.
The surplus in the goods account added $960 million from last year to $7.92 billion in March. Exports grew 18.5 percent to $54.38 billion and imports rose 19.3 percent to $46.46 billion.
Service account recorded a deficit of $900 million, narrowed from the red of $1.65 billion a year ago.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Transportation account reversed to a surplus of $690 million in March from a $90 million deficit last year, as the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), widely cited metric on market freight quotations, soared 194.4 percent from last year after global trade has increased significantly.
Tourism account deficit edged down from $370 million a year ago to $360 million.
Primary income account surplus expanded $420 million to $1.28 billion on the back of the rise in dividend income.
Net assets in the financial account grew $10.01 billion in March. Direct overseas investments by Korean nationals increased $4.22 billion and foreigners¡¯ direct investment to Korea gained $1.97 billion.
Korean¡¯s overseas stock investment rose $6.43 billion, and foreigners¡¯ investment in Korean stocks grew $7.27 billion.
By Choi Mira
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]