Surplus for four months thanks to strong exports… width decreases
Bank of Korea: “We will easily achieve our forecast for the second half of the year.”
Thanks to strong exports of semiconductors and mobile phones, the current account balance continued to be in surplus for four consecutive months in August. However, the surplus decreased to half of June.
According to the provisional balance of payments statistics announced by the Bank of Korea on the 8th, the current account balance in August was recorded as a surplus of $6.6 billion (approximately 8.89 trillion won). Although the surplus has continued for four consecutive months since May ($8.92 billion), the size of the surplus has decreased compared to June ($12.56 billion) and July ($8.33 billion).
The Bank of Korea assessed that although the current account surplus decreased in August, it is continuing a stable trend. Song Jae-chang, head of the Bank of Korea’s financial statistics department, said, “The size of the surplus in August is at the same level as the monthly average between January and July of this year,” adding, “Exports based on customs clearance also broke the record in September. He predicted that the current account balance forecast ($35.3 billion) for the second half of this year (July to December) will be easily achieved.”
Exports are the main contributor to the current account surplus. August exports amounted to $57.45 billion, up 7.1% from a year ago. Among major export items, exports of information and communication devices (44.0%) and semiconductors (38.3%) increased significantly. By region, exports showed good performance in the order of the European Union (EU, 16.1%), Southeast Asia (15.3%), the United States (11.1%), China (7.9%), and Japan (6.6%). Chemical industrial products (-4.4%) and passenger cars (-3.6%) fell behind.
Imports ($50.86 billion) also increased by 4.9%, but fell short of the increase in exports. Imports of raw materials such as crude oil (30.1%), petroleum products (13.4%), and natural gas (5.6%) increased by 6.1%. Imports of capital goods such as transportation equipment (46.0%), semiconductors (18.7%), and semiconductor manufacturing equipment (14.7%) also increased by 7.8%.
Reporter Lee Dong-hoon dhlee@donga.com