2019.02.1418:45:00UTC+00South Korea Has $4.82 Billion Current Account Surplus In December

South Korea posted a current account surplus of $4.82 billion in December, the Bank of Korea said on Friday - down from $5.22 billion in November.

The goods account surplus narrowed to $6.53 billion in December, compared to the $7.92 billion surplus in December 2017.

The services account deficit was $1.95 billion, less than the $3.71 billion deficit one year earlier owing to improvements in the transport and the travel accounts.

The primary income account surplus narrowed from $1.12 billion in 2017 to $1.04 billion in December 2018, in line with an increase in the payments on equity account. The secondary income account showed a $0.80 billion deficit.

In the financial account, net assets expanded by $5.44 billion during December. Direct investment assets grew by $3.27 billion, and direct investment liabilities by $1.86 billion.

There was a $5.55 billion increase in portfolio investment assets during the month, and a $1.56 billion decrease in portfolio investment liabilities.

Financial derivatives posted a net expansion of $0.14 billion.

In terms of other investment, there was a decline of $0.43 billion in assets and a rise of $3.43 billion in liabilities. Reserve assets increased by $0.64 billion.

For all of 2018, the current account surplus was $76.41 billion.