current account-October
S. Korea posts current account surplus for 2nd straight month but sharply smaller than year earlier
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea posted a current account surplus for the second consecutive month in October, but the amount was much smaller than the previous year amid expanded imports and outbound travel, central bank data showed Friday.
The country's current account surplus came to US$880 million in October, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
This marked the second straight month of a surplus, though the surplus was nearly halved from the previous month's $1.58 billion. It also represented a sharp fall from a year earlier when the country logged a surplus of $8.01 billion.
The decline came as import bills grew fast amid high-rise costs of raw materials, while outbound travel increased, bolstered by eased COVID-19 restrictions.
During the January-October period, the country's cumulative current account surplus stood at $24.99 billion, sharply down from a surplus of $75.42 billion tallied a year earlier, the data showed.
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