S Korea posts current account surplus for 29 months

SEOUL, Aug 28 (Xinhua): South Korea posted current account surplus for 29 months in a row, heading for the record surplus this year, due to robust export growth, central bank data showed Thursday.
Current account surplus was US$7.91 billion in July after logging a $7.92 billion surplus in the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
For the first seven months of this year, the surplus reached $47.1 billion, higher than $39.25 billion in the same period of last year when the current account surplus set records.
Solid export growth helped maintain the surplus for 29 straight months. Exports, which account for around half of the economy, increased 7.2 per cent from a year earlier to $53.89 billion in July. Imports climbed 7.8 per cent to $47.03 billion.
Trade surplus for goods expanded to $6.86 billion in July from $6.65 billion in the previous month.
On a customs basis, car exports jumped 20.4 per cent, with shipments of steels, auto parts and telecommunication devices increasing more than 10 per cent.