The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
リンク: The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper.
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Current account surplus widens to record in Nov.
Korea's current account surplus widened to a record $4.24 billion in November, as exports remained robust despite the won's continued rise against the dollar and yen, the Bank of Korea reported yesterday.
The nation's current account balance, which measures the flow of goods, services and money in and out of Korea, increased to a surplus of $4.24 billion, compared with a revised $2.06 billion in October. It was the biggest-ever monthly surplus.
Consequently, the accumulated current account surplus this year to November was tallied at $5.95 billion, only $0.05 billion shy of the central bank's full-year target of $60 billion.
The country's current account balance swung into the black in September, after posting a deficit in the two previous months.
Jeong Sam-yong, head of the central bank's balance of payment statistics team, said one-off factors, such as a time lag between shipments of exports and imports, had played a big part in boosting trade figures. He expects the December surplus to be smaller.
"But the prices of oil and memory chips are moving to a direction that is favorable for Korean exports, which should keep the current account balance in the black," he added.
Computer chips, cars and ships are Korea's main exports. The price of Dubai crude oil, Korea's benchmark, is 20 percent off its July peak. Korea imports nearly all of the oil it consumes.
The strong trade data comes amid worries that the won's recent appreciation against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen may hurt exports, the main driver of the country's economic growth.
According to the BOK data released yesterday, the goods surplus doubled to $5.71 billion in November from the previous month's $2.68 billion.
The accumulated surplus on the goods account stood at $27.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the service account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transportation costs and royalties, were still in the red, with the deficit widening to $1.43 billion from October's $1.19 billion. From January to November, Korea accumulated a service account deficit of $16.8 billion.
(milaya@heraldm.com)
By Lee Sun-young
2006.12.29
