SEOUL, May 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus hit a new high in March due to strong demand for locally-made semiconductors, central bank data showed Friday.
Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, posted a surplus of 37.33 billion U.S. dollars in March, topping the previous high of 23.19 billion dollars tallied in February, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It stayed in black for a 35th consecutive month since May 2023, driven by semiconductor export boom.
For the first three months of 2026, the current account surplus amounted to 73.78 billion dollars, roughly 3.8 times larger than 19.49 billion dollars in the same period of 2025.
Trade surplus for goods reached a record high of 35.07 billion dollars in March.
Export soared 56.9 percent from a year earlier to 94.32 billion dollars in March, while import expanded 17.4 percent to 59.24 billion dollars.
Service account deficit totaled 1.29 billion dollars in March, lower than a deficit of 2.51 billion dollars a year earlier.
Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 3.58 billion dollars on solid dividend income from foreign stock investment.
Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and service, achieved a net outflow of 36.99 billion dollars in the cited month.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents swelled by 8.89 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea increased by 3.77 billion dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents gained by 4.00 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds dived by 34.04 billion dollars. ■
