South Korea kept the current account surplus trend for 13 straight months due to faster reduction in imports than exports, central bank data showed Thursday.
Current account surplus was 2.71 billion U.S. dollars in February after posting a 2.33 billion-dollar surplus in the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea. The reading stayed in the black for 13 months in a row.
Exports fell 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 42.22 billion dollars in February after jumping 14 percent in the previous month. The Lunar New Year's holiday moved to February this year from January last year, decreasing business days and consequently a reduction in exports.
Imports declined at a faster pace of 11 percent than exports, leading the surplus to widen last month.
