S.Korea keeps current account surplus for 56 months through October

South Korea's economy posted current account surplus for 56 straight months through October, keeping the longest monthly surplus in history, central bank data showed on Thursday.

Current account surplus, the broadest measure of capital flow in and out of the country, reached 8.72 billion U.S. dollars in October, up 0.65 billion dollars from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

For the first 10 months of this year, the surplus amassed 81.92 billion dollars as both exports and imports reduced simultaneously.

Exports declined 6.3 percent over the year to 43.34 billion dollars in October, while imports shed 5.0 percent to 33.51 billion dollars.

Trade surplus for goods amounted to 9.83 billion dollars in October. From January to October, the trade surplus reached 100.59 billion dollars, surpassing the overall current account surplus in the same period.

Services account deficit tumbled from 2.58 billion dollars in September to 1.59 billion dollars in October as the transport account posted a surplus of 150 million dollars.

Primary income account, which gauges investment and interest income as well as salary, was a surplus of 860 million dollars. Enditem