South Korea Dec seasonally adjusted current account surplus inches down

[SEOUL] South Korea's current account surplus inched down to a seasonally adjusted US$7.66 billion in December last year from a revised US$9.64 billion surplus in November, central bank data showed on Monday.

Exports in December rose 4.5 per cent from a month earlier to US$51.7 billion while imports gained 6.7 per cent to US$43.9 billion to produce a goods account of US$7.8 billion, all on seasonally adjusted terms, the Bank of Korea data showed.

Without adjustment for seasonal patterns, the current account surplus stood at US$7.22 billion in December.

For the whole of 2014, Asia's fourth-largest economy posted a record current account surplus of US$89.42 billion, up from an US$81.1 billion surplus in 2013.

In the financial account, South Korea saw a net outflow of US$9.80 billion in December, compared to a net outflow of US$9.92 billion in November without adjustments for seasonal patterns.

REUTERS