According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News)South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 28th straight month in June but saw the figure slip from the previous month, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The current surplus reached US$7.92 billion last month, compared with a revised $9.08 billion in May, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.

With the June data out, South Korea's current account surplus for the first six months of the year came to $39.2 billion, less than half of the country's forecast of $84 billion for the year.

The latest data showed that overseas shipments rose 2.5 percent on-year to $47.85 billion in June as demand for display panels and chips remained solid.

The accumulated value of exports in the first half also increased 2.5 percent from the previous year to $283.3 billion.

Imports expanded at a faster pace, growing 4.1 percent on-year to $42.4 billion. The accumulated amount in the January-June period rose 2.6 percent to $263.1 billion.

The overall balance of goods reached $6.65 billion in June, narrowing from a $9.13 billion surplus in the previous month.

The service account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips, saw its deficit widen to $580 million from $340 million on-month.

The primary income account, which tracks wages of foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, sharply rose to $2.23 billion from $730 million on dividend income, according to the data.

mil@yna.co.kr

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