By Kim Young Deok and Lee Jihae

The current account surplus in September surpassed USD 10 billion for the first time in two years.

The Bank of Korea on Nov. 5 said in a report that the surplus reached USD 10.21 billion, the largest since USD 11.24 billion in September 2018.

The surplus in September this year was an increase of USD 2.45 billion (31.6%) from that in the same month last year, and marked the fifth straight month of finishing in the black since May.

The surplus this year from January to September was USD 43.4 billion, higher than USD 41.46 billion posted over the same period last year.

Park Yang Su, director general of the central bank's economic statistics department, said, "If this trend continues, the current account surplus this year will finish well above USD 54 billion and could approach last year's USD 60 billion."

As exports rebounded despite COVID-19's adverse shock on the global economy, the scale of Korea's surplus this year grew.

The goods balance, or the difference between exports and imports, saw a surplus of USD 12.02 billion in September this year, up USD 3.32 billion from the same month last year.

Exports reached USD 49.85 billion and imports USD 37.83 billion, with both rising for the first time since February this year and exceeding the respective figures in September last year. Yet export growth mainly in semiconductors (12.4%) and passenger cars (24.3%) widened the goods balance surplus.

The service balance deficit also declined because of improvement in the travel and transportation balance, falling from USD 2.26 billion to USD 2.04 billion over the cited period.

The primary income account, which is related to wages, investment and income, saw its surplus decline from USD 1.54 billion to USD 610 million over the period due to a fall in dividend income, or revenue generated by the distribution of profits from stocks and investments.

In direct investment, investment by Koreans rose USD 4.26 billion and that by foreign nationals grew USD 1.25 billion.

kyd1991@korea.kr