South Korea’s current account surplus rose to the highest level in one year in October as exports declined on-month at a slower pace than imports, the central bank said Tuesday.

The current account surplus reached $4.23 billion October, up from a revised $2.83 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.

The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.

The October reading marked the largest surplus since $5.49 billion tallied in October last year.

The current account remained in the black for the 20th straight month fueled by exports, which account for about 50 percent of the South Korean economy.

The combined surplus amounted to $19.23 billion in the first 10 months of this year, easily exceeding the central bank’s yearly surplus of $15.5 billion.

A BOK official said that export figures were not bad last month, but the country’s overseas shipments have begun to be affected by the eurozone debt crisis and the dimmer global economy, given falls in export volumes to the U.S. and European countries.

The downbeat global economic outlooks and the eurozone debt crisis are raising economic uncertainty, fueling concerns that Korea’s exports would be dented.

In the first 20 days of this month, exports on a customs-cleared basis are estimated to have grown 7.1 percent on-year to $28.4 billion, according to data by the Finance Ministry.

BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo said last month that the current account surplus for next year is likely to miss the BOK’s estimate of $17 billion due to worsening external conditions.

South Korea’s goods balance posted a surplus of $3.65 billion in October, up from a revised $2.1 billion in September, the central bank said.

Exports rose 10.9 percent on-year to $46.6 billion and imports gained 17.3 percent to $42.9 billion.

The service account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips, posted a surplus of $2.8 million last month, down from $70.6 million in September.

The primary income account, which tracks wages for foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, logged a surplus of $643.5 million in October, up from $543 million tallied in September.

Meanwhile, the capital and financial account, covering cross-border investments, posted a net outflow of $4.47 billion in October, larger than a net outflow of a revised $4.34 billion in September, the central bank said.
 
(Yonhap News)