Roundup: 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 hit the monthly high of 12.19 billion dollars in June, up 41.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account balance stayed in the black for the longest 40 months since March 2012.

The surplus topped the previous monthly high of 11.32 billion dollars in November 2014, maintaining the trend of a "recession- type" surplus in which imports fall at a faster pace than exports.

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. The country kept a record-breaking surplus for two years with 81.15 billion dollars in 2013 and 89.22 billion dollars in 2014.

Trade surplus for goods increased from 9.16 billion dollars in May to 13.22 billion dollars in June thanks to the fast decline in imports.

Exports, which account for about half of the economy, slid 2 percent from a year earlier to 49.30 billion dollars in June on the back of soft demand for locally-made consumer electronics, ships and oil products. Imports plunged 17.3 percent to 36.08 billion dollars last month.

For the first six months of this year, the exports amounted to 278.99 billion dollars, down 10.6 percent from the same period of last year. Imports tumbled 18.3 percent to 218.8 billion dollars in the cited period.

The increase in trade surplus for goods helped offset the travel account deficit that was caused by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The viral disease, the first case of which was found on May 20, infected 186 people, and 36 infectees passed away among them.

But, the total contagion number has been unchanged for more than four weeks since July 6, and the South Korea government declared the de-facto end of the MERS crisis last week.

According to the government data, at least 130,000 foreign tourists canceled their travel plan to South Korea in June alone for contagion fears.

Service account deficit, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, expanded from 0.4 billion dollars in May to 2.49 billion dollars in June.

Primary income surplus, which includes monthly salaries and investment income, gained from 0.29 billion dollars in May to 1.68 billion dollars in June due to a rise in dividend income.

Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, logged an outflow of 10.49 billion dollars in June, up from 8.81 billion dollars in May.

Outflow in direct investment jumped from 1.2 billion dollars in May to 4.99 billion dollars in June as local players increased direct investment into foreign countries.

Portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, posted an outflow of 6.5 billion dollars in June, up from 0.36 billion dollars.

Foreign funds began to flow out of the South Korean financial market on rising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would hike interest rates as early as in September.

Other investment account, including trade credit and foreign debts, turned into an inflow of 2.24 billion dollars in June from an outflow of 4.76 billion dollars in May. Endi