S. Korea keeps longest current account surplus for 40 months

South Korea kept the longest trend of current account surplus for 40 months, resulting in the largest surplus of over 50 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, central bank data showed Monday.

Current account surplus was 12.19 billion dollars in June, up 41.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account balance has stayed in the black for the longest 40 months since March 2012.

Helped by the continued monthly surplus, the first-half surplus amounted to 52.39 billion dollars, topping the 50-billion-dollar mark for the first time in history. It was up 32.9 percent from the same period of last year.

The central bank had set its 2015 outlook for current account surplus at 98 billion dollars amid lower crude oil prices that reduced energy import costs at a faster pace than exports fall, causing the so-called "recession-type" surplus. Endi