SEOUL, April 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus hit a record high in February due to strong demand for locally-made semiconductors, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, posted a surplus of 23.19 billion U.S. dollars in February, making the largest-ever surplus, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It stayed in black for the 34th consecutive month since May 2023, driven by the semiconductor export boom.
Trade surplus for goods totaled 23.36 billion dollars in February, roughly 2.6 times larger than the surplus tallied in the same month of last year.
Exports soared 29.9 percent from a year earlier to 70.37 billion dollars in February, while imports expanded 4 percent to 47 billion dollars.
Service account deficit reached 1.86 billion dollars in February, lower than a deficit of 3.38 billion dollars a year ago.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 2.48 billion dollars on solid dividend income from foreign stock investment.
Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, achieved a net outflow of 22.8 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents swelled by 3.81 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea increased by 0.94 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents jumped by 8.64 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds dived by 11.94 billion dollars. ■
