South Korea’s current account posted a slight deficit in April on the back of dividends paid to foreign stock investors amid a shrinking trade surplus.
The Bank of Korea announced on Wednesday that the current account balance turned to a deficit of US$660 million in April. A month earlier, South Korea’s current account had posted a surplus of $4.82 billion in March. One year earlier, the surplus had been $1.36 billion in April 2018.
Even so, the government forecasts that the current account will post a surplus of more than $60 billion this year as it is expected to expand in the second half. Last year, the current account was in the black to the tune of $76.4 billion with a surplus of $28.9 billion in the first half and $47.5 billion in the second half.
The trade surplus shrank to $5.67 billion from $9.62 billion in April, due to falling exports hit by the worsening US-China trade war.
The service account continued to post a deficit of $1.43 billion, but the gap narrowed from $1.98 billion in April as more tourists from Japan and China visited South Korea.
The primary income account also posted a deficit of $4.33 billion due to dividend payments to foreign investors, but the gap narrowed from $5.62 billion a year earlier. The dividend income deficit came to $4.99 billion, down from $6.36 billion a year earlier.
The primary income account indicates the difference between income such as wages and investment income earned by Koreans abroad and earned by foreigners in Korea.
Dividend payments to foreign investors reached $6.78 billion, down from $7.66 billion a year earlier. The dividends sent overseas decreased as earnings of listed companies have shrunk since the fourth quarter of last year.
“The market expected the dividends to be the same size as the one of last year, but the actual amount was smaller than the estimate,” Yang Ho-seok, who heads the Bank of Korea’s balance of payments team, told Asia Times.
The primary income deficit, however, surged from a deficit of $740 million in March, making it the main factor behind April’s current account deficit.
The current account deficit of April is likely to turn to a surplus from May. For the year, the central bank expects the current account to post a surplus of $24.5 billion in the first half and $42 billion in the second half of 2019.
“The current account balance is expected to swing back to the black in May and post a surplus of more than $60 billion this year,” Lee Eok-won, director of the Economic Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, told Asia Times. “Many other institutions agree with us.”
Yay google is my queen helped me to find this outstanding website ! .
Great blog right here! Additionally your website quite a bit up fast! What web host are you using? Can I am getting your affiliate hyperlink on your host? I want my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
Hello, you used to write fantastic, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
I genuinely enjoy looking at on this internet site, it contains wonderful content. “A short saying oft contains much wisdom.” by Sophocles.
Regards for helping out, superb information. “If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.” by Bill Lyon.
In the awesome scheme of things you actually secure an A just for effort and hard work. Where you confused everybody ended up being in your facts. You know, it is said, the devil is in the details… And that couldn’t be more true at this point. Having said that, let me inform you precisely what did do the job. Your text is definitely really engaging and this is probably why I am making the effort to comment. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, even though I can easily see a leaps in logic you make, I am definitely not sure of just how you appear to unite the details which inturn make the actual conclusion. For the moment I shall subscribe to your issue but hope in the foreseeable future you connect your dots better.
You got a very great website, Gladiolus I found it through yahoo.
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any suggestions for rookie blog writers? I’d really appreciate it.
I like this web site so much, saved to bookmarks. “To hold a pen is to be at war.” by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.
Hello my loved one! I want to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with approximately all significant infos. I would like to peer more posts like this .
This really answered my problem, thank you!
I?¦m now not sure where you’re getting your information, however great topic. I must spend a while finding out more or working out more. Thanks for magnificent information I used to be looking for this info for my mission.
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appeal. I must say that you’ve done a great job with this. Additionally, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Safari. Outstanding Blog!
Respect to op, some superb information .
Thanks for sharing excellent informations. Your web site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this site. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found simply the info I already searched everywhere and simply couldn’t come across. What a great website.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing for your feed and I’m hoping you write once more very soon!
This is a topic close to my heart cheers, where are your contact details though?
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.
I’ll immediately grab your rss feed as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Thank you, I’ve recently been searching for info about this topic for a while and yours is the best I’ve discovered so far. But, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you certain in regards to the source?