Korea Business News Agency - NSP NEWS AGENCY.

(Seoul=NSP NEWS) = South Korea recorded a current account surplus of $99.04 billion in 2024, marking the second-largest surplus in the country’s history. The strong performance was driven by a surge in exports of semiconductors and other IT-related products. Despite the overall surplus, non-IT products such as passenger vehicles and chemical products remained sluggish, while foreign investors maintained a net selling trend in the domestic stock market for five consecutive months.

According to provisional data in the 'Balance of Payments during December 2024' released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on February 6, the country's current account surplus for December alone reached $12.37 billion, setting a new record for the month.

The goods balance registered a surplus of $10.43 billion, as imports rose 4.2% year-on-year to $52.87 billion. Meanwhile, the country’s financial account net assets increased by $9.38 billion in December, bringing the total annual increase to $95.21 billion, although the monthly growth rate slowed compared to the previous month.

Direct investment expanded significantly to $5.72 billion in December, up from $3.52 billion in the previous month. Securities investment also saw net asset growth of $4.66 billion. However, foreign investors holdings of domestic securities decreased by $3.8 billion.

By Eun-young Huh(eunyoung114@nspna.com) and Soo-in Kang(sink606@nspna.com)

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