South Korea posted current account surplus for 78 months through August, the longest monthly surplus ever recorded by the economy, central bank data showed Thursday.

Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border capital flow, was a surplus of 8.44 billion U.S. dollars in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was slightly down from a surplus of 8.76 billion U.S. dollars in the previous month, but the balance stayed in the black for 78 months since March 2012, the longest surplus the South Korean economy has tallied.

The continued surplus stemmed from strong global demand for locally-made semiconductors and the global trade recovery. Export price for oil product and chemicals gained on expensive global crude oil.

Goods export jumped 11.7 percent over the year to 53.27 billion U.S. dollars in August, while import gained 9.2 percent to 42.03 billion U.S. dollars. Trade surplus for goods was 11.24 billion U.S. dollars in the month.