Seoul, Dec 29 (DPA) South Korea posted a current-account surplus of $41.2 billion in the first 11 months of this year and was expected to book a record figure for the year, the central bank said Tuesday.
The full-year figure should see a surplus of $43 billion, breaking the record of $40.3 billion in 1998, Bank of Korea official Lee Young Bog told reporters in Seoul.
Seasonality caused the current-account surplus to narrow from a revised $4.76 billion in October to 4.28 billion in November.
“There is a seasonal slip in overseas shipments that narrows the surplus in December. But it won’t affect our forecast for the 2009 current-account surplus to be at least $43 billion,” Lee said.
The current account is the broadest measure of trade, tracking the flow of goods, services and investment income.
Economists expect the economy to grow 4 to 5 percent in 2010 after growing 0.2 percent in 2009.
