2018.10.1019:45:00UTC+00South Korea August Current Account Surplus $8.44 Billion

South Korea had a current account surplus of $8.44 billion in August, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday - roughly in line with expectations and down from $8.79 billion in July.

The goods account showed a $11.24 billion surplus, higher than the surplus of $9.18 billion in August of last year.

The services account deficit was $2.11 billion, down from $2.33 billion one year before, in line with improvements in the construction services and use of intellectual property accounts.

The primary income account surplus widened to $0.05 billion compared to $0.02 billion one year earlier, owing to an improvement in the interest income account.

The secondary income account showed a $0.73 billion deficit.

Looking at the financial account, net assets expanded by $7.28 billion during August.

Direct investment assets grew by $5.57 billion, and direct investment liabilities by $1.20 billion.

There was a $7.17 billion increase in portfolio investment assets and a $5.68 billion rise in portfolio investment liabilities.

Financial derivatives posted a net increase of $0.76 billion.

In terms of other investment, there was a decline of $0.75 billion in assets and a decline of $2.63 billion in liabilities.

Reserve assets fell $1.24 billion.