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South Korea's current account surplus almost doubles

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IANS Seoul

Seoul, April 29 (IANS) South Korea's current account surplus almost doubled in March, compared to February, thanks to robust exports of IT products such as smartphones and semiconductors, central bank data showed Monday.

Current account surplus was $4.98 billion in March after posting a surplus of $2.71 billion in February and $2.33 billion in January respectively, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

For the first three months of this year, the surplus reached $10.02 billion, almost quadrupling from the same period of last year, reported Xinhua.

The widening surplus was attributable to brisk shipments of major export items. Exports increased 1.3 percent from a year earlier to $47.99 billion in March after falling 7.9 percent in the previous month.

 

Imports reduced 1.5 percent to $43.78 billion in March, sending the trade balance to a surplus of $4.21 billion last month.

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First Published: Apr 29 2013 | 11:42 AM IST

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