Current Account Surplus for 7 Months... "Exceeds Annual Forecast"

[Anchor]
The current account, the final report card for international trade, has been in the black for seven months.

Despite the slowdown in exports, imports are expected to fall further, reaching a surplus, exceeding the annual current account forecast of $90 billion.

I'm reporter Lee Hyungwon.

[Reporter]
The current account balance has been in the black for seven months since May last year.

It had a surplus of $9.3 billion in November, down from the previous month.

In particular, the contents of the goods balance surplus, which accounts for the largest portion of the current account, added to the regret.

Specifically, the balance of goods was $9.75 billion, more than $1.6 billion higher than in October.

However, this increase is the result of a greater decline in imports than exports.

Although semiconductors continued to increase, the decrease in non-IT items such as petroleum products and passenger cars was significant, which lowered the overall export volume.

[Song Jae-chang / Director of Financial Statistics, Bank of Korea: (The product balance) showed the lowest growth rate since October 2023 due to sluggish non-IT items, but overall surplus widened as commodity imports fell mainly on raw materials due to falling international oil prices....]

The service account deficit has widened due to the worsening travel account, which is a chronic deficit.

On top of that, the primary income balance, including dividend income, also decreased, leading to a current account surplus.

The BOK was confident it would exceed its annual forecast of $90 billion in December, expecting a substantial surplus mainly in the commodity balance.

However, he was concerned that the recent rise in the exchange rate due to the strong dollar could adversely affect exports in the future.

The protectionist stance of the Trump administration, which will be launched soon, was also cited as a variable this year.

At the same time, he stressed that it is necessary to respond after examining the timing and intensity of the actual policy and the reactions of neighboring countries.

I'm Lee Hyungwon of YTN.

Video editing:Jung Kook-yoon
Design: Lee Ga-eun