S.Korea posts current account surplus at 8.4 bln USD in February

South Korea posted current account surplus in February at 8.4 billion U.S. dollars thanks to recovering exports, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's current account balance stayed in the black for 60 month to February as export recovery raised the trade surplus for goods to the highest in five months, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Trade surplus for goods reached 10.55 billion dollars in February, up from 7.81 billion dollars the previous month. It was the largest since September last year.

Exports, which account for about half of the economy, jumped 23 percent over the year to 44.63 billion dollars in February. Imports soared 20.2 percent to 34.08 billion dollars.

The export growth rate was the highest in more than five years since December 2011. Leading the rapid increase were higher oil product prices and strong demand for semiconductors.

Oil product exports surged 72.6 percent from a year earlier to 2.94 billion dollars in February, with those for chips advancing 56.7 percent to 6.57 billion dollars.

Services account balance logged a deficit of 2.23 billion dollars in February, more than doubling the deficit tallied a year earlier. The services account remained in the red for 27 months since December 2014.

Travel account deficit reached 1.17 billion dollars, while transport account deficit grew from 230 million dollars in January to 570 million dollars in February.

BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol told a meeting with economic experts that household income should be improved by creating more jobs though the export recovery led a moderate growth of the economy.

Lee said policy efforts would be urgently needed to enhance the weakened domestic demand, adding that it will be a desirable, fundamental solution to add more jobs and increase the household income. Endit