South Korea posted a current account surplus of $7.46 billion in December, the Bank of Korea said on Monday – down from the $9.91 billion surplus in November.
The goods account surplus widened to $10.77 billion, compared to $10.47 billion in November.
The services account deficit widened as well, to $1.70 billion from $1.26 billion a month earlier, due to deteriorations in the transport and the travel accounts, the bank said.
The primary income account shifted to a deficit of $0.59 billion from its November surplus of $0.89 billion, in line with an increase in the payments on equity account.
The secondary income account was a $1.02 billion deficit. The financial account had an increase of $7.76 billion in net assets in December.
In the direct investment, assets increased by $3.65 billion in December, up from the growth of $1.28 billion in November, while liabilities expanded by $2.24 billion compared to a $0.38 billion expansion in November.
Portfolio investment saw an increase of $3.42 billion in assets, similar to that in the previous month, and a $4.04 billion decrease in liabilities after also falling by $1.72 billion in November.
Financial derivatives posted net growth of $0.42 billion.
In terms of other investment, there were decreases of $3.14 billion in assets and 43.52 billion in liabilities, the latter due to net repayments of borrowings by domestic financial institutions, the bank said.
Reserve assets fell $1.92 billion.
For all of 2015, the current account surplus was $105.96 billion. The financial account had an increase of $109.63 billion increase in net assets for 2015.
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