S. Korea's current account surplus hits all-time high in September on chip export boom-Xinhua - 新华网

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus hit an all-time high in September, driven by a surge in semiconductor and solid-state drive (SSD) exports, central bank data showed Thursday.

The current account balance, or the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 61.46 billion U.S. dollars in September, topping the previous record of 49.73 billion dollars set in June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

For the first nine months of 2026, the cumulative current account surplus reached 340.66 billion dollars, more than quadrupled compared to 83.89 billion dollars tallied during the same period last year.

Trade surplus for goods achieved a record high of 62.75 billion dollars, surpassing the previous high of 47.89 billion dollars in June.

Exports soared 92.4 percent from a year earlier to 130.72 billion dollars in September, exceeding 100 billion dollars for a fourth consecutive month on the back of robust demand for chips and SSDs used for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Imports advanced 29.4 percent to 67.97 billion dollars, led by chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and raw materials.

Services account remained in the red, logging a deficit of 3.35 billion dollars in September that was larger than a deficit of 1.68 billion dollars in the previous month.

The primary income account, including monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 2.65 billion dollars, while the financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow excluding transactions in goods and services, swelled by 54.34 billion dollars. ■