Roundup: S. Korea keeps recession-type current account surplus for 44 months

South Korea kept a so-called "recession-type" current account surplus for 44 months in a row as imports fell at a faster pace than exports, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Current account surplus reached 8.96 billion U.S. dollars in October, keeping a surplus trend for 44 months since March 2012, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the longest surplus in the country's history.

The October figure was down from the previous month's 10.54 billion dollars, but was up 0.22 billion dollars from a year earlier.

Despite the long-running surplus, concerns remained over the South Korean economy as the surplus came from a faster fall in imports than exports that is called a "recession-type" surplus.

The recession-type surplus tends to dampen the economy as the surplus trend put an upward pressure on the South Korean currency against the U.S. dollar, which in turn weighs down on the already sluggish exports.

Exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, dipped 7 percent from a year earlier to 47.44 billion dollars in October. Imports tumbled 14.7 percent to 36.7 billion dollars.

Sluggish imports indicate a reduction in corporate investment and faltering private consumption, which may lead to the weakening of corporate competitiveness in the long term.

Trade surplus for goods came in at 10.74 billion dollars in October, down from 12.04 billion dollars in September.

Deficit in the service account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, increased to 1.99 billion dollars in October from 1.73 billion dollars in September.

The increased service account deficit was attributable to a surge in the deficit of intellectual property rights from 260 million dollars in September to 680 million dollars in October.

Travel account deficit also expanded from 710 million dollars in September to 850 million dollars in October.

Surplus in the primary income account, which includes monthly salaries and investment income, narrowed to 590 million dollars in October from 740 million dollars in September due to a rise in interest payments.

Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, logged an outflow of 11.09 billion dollars in October, up from 10.54 billion dollars in September.

Flight of direct investment narrowed from 4.61 billion dollars in September to 3.5 billion dollars in October due to a fall in overseas direct investment.

Flight of portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, surged from 4.28 billion dollars in September to 7.1 billion dollars in October as local residents increased the purchase of foreign securities.

Other investment account, including trade credit and foreign debts, registered an inflow of 930 million dollars in October, up from an inflow of 400 million dollars in September. It came as local players withdrew deposits from foreign institutions. Enditem