Roundup: S. Korea's current account surplus tops 100 bln USD in 2015

South Korea's current account surplus, the broadest gauge of cross-border capital flow, topped 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 due mainly to faster fall in imports than exports, central bank data showed Monday.

Surplus reached 105.96 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, surpassing the 100 billion-dollar mark for the first time in the country's history, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The 2015 figure was up 25.6 percent from the previous year's 84.37 billion dollars and nearly doubled a surplus of 50.84 billion dollars tallied in 2012.

The surplus trend came as imports reduced faster than exports, shoring up worries about the so-called recession-type surplus, under which the surplus puts upward pressure on the local currency and negatively affects exports.

Exports of the export-driven economy fell 10.5 percent from a year earlier to 548.93 billion dollars in 2015.

Imports tumbled 18.2 percent to 428.56 billion dollars on the back of the rapid decline in global crude oil prices. Both the exports and imports posted a downward picture for 12 straight months through December in 2015.

Trade surplus for goods amounted to 120.37 billion dollars in 2015, up from 88.89 billion dollars in 2014.

The service account, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, registered a deficit of 15.78 billion dollars in 2015.

Among the service items, travel account deficit was the largest at 9.67 billion dollars in 2015 due to the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The deadly viral disease encouraged foreign travelers to delay or cancel trip to South Korea.

It was followed by a deficit of 5.49 billion dollars in the processed services and a deficit of 3.63 billion dollars in intellectual property rights.

Construction services posted a surplus of 10.49 billion dollars in 2015, but it was down from 15.29 billion dollars in 2014. The surplus in transport services came to 3.02 billion dollars, halving from 6.19 billion dollars a year ago.

The primary income account, which gauges investment and interest incomes, posted a 5.9 billion-dollar surplus in 2015.

Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 109.63 billion dollars in 2015.

Overseas direct investment by local residents increased 27.64 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment into the country grew by 5.04 billion dollars.

Portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, posted a net outflow of 49.61 billion dollars last year. Local investors' purchase of foreign securities increased 42.33 billion dollars, but foreign investors sold 7.29 billion dollars of local securities in 2015.

Other investment income, including trade credit and foreign debts, registered an outflow of 22.83 billion dollars in 2015. Enditem