Roundup: S.Korea posts current account surplus for 53 months on faster import fall

South Korea posted a current account surplus for 53 straight months through July on faster fall in imports than exports, central bank data showed on Thursday.

Current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, reached 8.71 billion U.S. dollars in July, staying in the black since March 2013, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the longest monthly decline in history, boosting concerns about a so-called "recession-type" surplus. The surplus usually puts upward pressures on the South Korean currency, which in turn, worsens price competitiveness of domestic exporters.

The July surplus, however, was the lowest in three months due to weaker exports.

Exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, slumped 10 percent from a year earlier to 42.51 billion dollars in July, while imports tumbled 15.1 percent to 31.7 billion dollars.

Trade surplus for goods amounted to 10.81 billion dollars in July, down from a 12.71 billion-dollar surplus in the previous month.

Display panel exports tumbled 26.5 percent in July from a year ago. Shipments of oil products declined 10.4 percent, with those for cars and auto parts sliding 11.9 percent.

Services account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, logged a deficit of 1.53 billion dollars in July, expanding from a 1.38 billion-dollar deficit in June.

Travel account deficit expanded to 1.28 billion dollars in July from the previous month as more residents went abroad for summer vacations. The deficit in June was 740 million dollars.

Construction account posted a surplus of 770 million dollars in July, up from a surplus of 740 million dollars in the previous month.

Primary income account, which gauges investment and interest income as well as salary, was a surplus of 50 million dollars in July, tumbling from a surplus of 1.26 billion dollars on lower dividend income from overseas.

Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, registered an outflow of 9.39 billion dollars.

Overseas direct investment by local residents increased 2.2 billion dollars in July, while foreigners invested 1.25 billion dollars overseas.

Portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, recorded an outflow of 90 million dollars in July. Local investment into foreign securities expanded 4.62 billion dollars, while foreign investment into local securities gained 4.53 billion dollars.

Local residents invested 3.3 billion dollars into foreign bonds in July, almost doubling compared with the previous month. During the January-July period, foreign bond investment amounted to 22.12 billion dollars. Enditem