In June, South Korea's current account surplus approached $50 billion, setting a record for the second consecutive month.
According to preliminary statistics released by the Bank of Korea on August 6, the current account surplus for June was recorded at $49.73 billion, significantly surpassing the previous record of $38.61 billion set in May.
From January to June this year, the cumulative current account surplus reached $191.01 billion, four times higher than the $47.87 billion recorded during the same period last year.
By category, the goods account surplus was $47.89 billion, marking a new all-time high. Exports totaled $112.37 billion, surpassing the $100 billion mark for the first time. Both IT and non-IT exports contributed to this increase.
In terms of specific items, exports of computer peripherals, including SSDs, surged by 282.7%, while semiconductors rose by 196.9%, and wireless communication devices increased by 60.6%. Other categories such as petroleum products (47.5%), chemical products (18.6%), steel products (17.9%), and machinery and precision instruments (8.6%) also saw growth.
Imports, amounting to $64.48 billion, increased by 38.6% due to rises in raw materials (30.5%), capital goods (35.3%), and consumer goods (16.4%). The increase in raw materials was driven by coal (63.0%) and crude oil (50.3%), while capital goods included semiconductors (64.1%) and information and communication devices (44.0%).
The services account recorded a deficit of $1.29 billion, slightly widening from May. However, compared to the same period last year (-$2.8 billion), the deficit was significantly reduced.
Within the services account, the travel balance showed a surplus of $440 million for the second consecutive month, attributed to an increase in inbound travelers and a decrease in outbound travelers due to rising fuel surcharges.
Conversely, the income from intellectual property rights turned to a deficit of $440 million, as the previous month’s concentrated settlements of intellectual property rights payments resulted in a significant drop in income.
The primary income account surplus expanded from $2.17 billion in May to $3.27 billion in June, with dividend income increasing to $2.56 billion. This growth was due to higher dividend receipts, while the decrease in dividend payments from securities investments was influenced by a base effect from the previous month’s quarterly dividends.
The net assets in the financial account rose to $46.71 billion, marking the largest increase on record, surpassing the previous high of $31.08 billion in March.
Direct investments saw an increase, with domestic investors investing $8.01 billion overseas and foreign investors investing $4.63 billion in South Korea.
In securities investment, domestic investors increased their overseas stock investments by $3.56 billion, while foreign investments in South Korean securities decreased by $26.32 billion, marking the second-largest drop on record following March's $34.04 billion.
Overall, securities investment assets increased by $3.56 billion, although this was a decrease from the previous month’s increase of $6.24 billion, primarily due to a larger decline in debt securities. Notably, stock investments saw a record net sell-off of $31.61 billion due to profit-taking sales, while debt securities increased by $5.29 billion, although the growth was limited by the impact of maturing bonds at the end of the quarter.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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