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Posted on: Friday, December 9, 2022 – 2:49 am | Last updated: Friday, December 9, 2022 – 2:49 AM
Data from the South Korean Central Bank showed today, Friday, that the country recorded a current account surplus for the second month in a row last October, but it was much smaller compared to the same month last year, amid high import costs and increased travel abroad.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that, according to preliminary data issued by the Central Bank of Korea, the country’s current account surplus amounted to $880 million last October.
This represented a surplus for the second month in a row, although it almost halved compared to $1.58 billion in the previous September. It also recorded a sharp decline from what it was in the same month last year, when the surplus amounted to $8.01 billion.
The decline came due to import bills increasing faster than exports amid higher raw material costs and increased travel abroad as a result of the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
The cumulative current account surplus in the January-October period reached 24.99 billion dollars, down sharply from the surplus of 75.42 billion dollars in the previous year, according to the data.