SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus hit a record high for the month of July, driven by a surge in tech exports such as semiconductors and computer peripherals, central bank data showed Friday.
The current account balance, or the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 42.08 billion U.S. dollars in July, marking the largest for any given month of July, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It also marked the second-biggest monthly surplus, trailing only the previous month's historic high of 49.73 billion dollars. The current account balance has stayed in black for 39 consecutive months since May 2023.
For the first seven months of 2026, the cumulative current account surplus reached 233.09 billion dollars, almost a fourfold increase compared to 59.82 billion dollars tallied in the same period of last year.
Trade surplus for goods posted its second-highest at 40.43 billion dollars in July, just behind 47.89 billion dollars in June.
Exports jumped 65.3 percent from a year earlier to 100.45 billion dollars in July, topping 100 billion dollars for two straight months on the back of strong demand for semiconductors and solid-state drives (SSDs).
Imports gained 21.7 percent to 60.02 billion dollars, spearheaded by semiconductor manufacturing equipment and crude oil.
Service account deficit totaled 1.97 billion dollars in July, higher than a deficit of 1.93 billion dollars a year earlier.
Within services, the travel balance shifted to a deficit of 340 million dollars, marking its first deficit in three months.
Primary income account, including monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 4.35 billion dollars due to an expansion in dividend income from overseas subsidiaries of domestic semiconductor manufacturers.
The net assets of the financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, grew by 40.32 billion dollars in July.
Overseas direct investment by domestic residents climbed by 3.36 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea decreased by 780 million dollars.
For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents gained by 13.57 billion dollars, and foreign investment in local stocks and bonds swelled by 8.17 billion dollars. ■
