South Korea's current account surplus reached its yearly high in July on the back of solid growth in exports, central bank data showed Thursday.
The country's current account surplus came to US$8.76 billion in July, up from $7.25 billion a year ago, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It is the highest since September last year when the figure stood at $12.29 billion, with South Korea having maintained a current account surplus for 77 straight months since March 2012, the data showed.
The goods account surplus rose to $11.43 billion in July, which is the largest since November last year, as goods exports surged 14.8 percent on-year to 54.06 billion on the back of rising global demand for semiconductors, according to the central bank.
The service account remained in the red in July, logging $3.12 billion in deficit, down from $3.29 billion a year ago and 2.45 billion of the previous month.
The deficit in the travel account contracted on-year to $1.48 billion last month from $1.79 billion thanks to a growing number of visitors from China and Japan.
Chinese tourists spiked 45.9 percent on-year and those from Japan jumped 35.1 percent from a year ago, the BOK noted. (Yonhap)