South Korea posted a current account surplus for 31 months in a row due to robust export growth, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Current account surplus was 7.62 billion U.S. dollars in September, up from a 7.2 billion-dollar surplus in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the 31st consecutive month of surplus.
For the first nine months of this year, the surplus reached 61. 86 billion dollars, up from 55.04 billion dollars tallied in the same period last year.
The BOK had expected the current account surplus to reach 84 billion dollars in the whole year of 2014, topping the previous record high of 79.9 billion dollars tallied in 2013.
Brisk exports led the September surplus. Exports, which account for about half of the economy, grew 4.2 percent from a month earlier to 50.98 billion dollars in September.
Imports increased 4.1 percent to 43.25 billion dollars in the cited period, sending the September trade surplus to 7.73 billion dollars. It was up from a 7.37 billion-dollar surplus in August.