In January, South Korea registered a current account surplus of $3.05 billion, according to the Bank of Korea. This is a decline from the $7.41 billion recorded in December.
The same month, the goods account saw a surplus of $4.24 billion as exports recorded an annualincrease of 14.7 percent amounting to $55.22 billion. Meanwhile, imports diminished by 8.1 percent, landing at $50.98 billion compared to the previous year.
Despite this, the services account suffered a deficit of $2.66 billion, primarily due to the dip in manufacturing services and travel accounts. Conversely, the primary income account saw a $1.62 billion surplus attributed to a rise in equity income.
In contrast, the secondary income account witnessed a minor deficit of $0.15 billion.
On the financial front, net assets saw an increase of $2.81 billion in January. The month also saw direct investment assets climb by $2.16 billion, whereas direct investment liabilities rose by just $0.22 billion, resulting in a net increase of $1.94 billion.
Moreover, portfolio investment assets inflated by $6.51 billion during the month. Simultaneously, there was a slight increase in portfolio investment liabilities of $6.52 billion, leading to a net decrease of $0.01 billion.
Meanwhile, financial derivatives recorded a net increase of $0.51 billion. In other types of investments, there was a net increase of $2.56 billion, with a surge of $9.00 billion in assets and a $6.45 billion rise in liabilities. However, reserve assets shrank by $2.19 billion.
