Balance of Payments Trends during 2009
(preliminary)
January 2010
Economic Statistics Department
The Bank of Korea
□ The current account in 2009 recorded a surplus of 42.67 billion dollars, an increase from the previous year's 5.78 billion dollars deficit, as the goods account surplus widened substantially.
The goods account surplus amounted to 56.13 billion dollars, up
―
from 5.67 billion dollars a year earlier, as the scale of the decrease of imports exceeded than that of exports.
The services account deficit registered a deficit of 17.2 billion
―
dollars, similar to the previous year's 16.67 billion dollars, as the transportation account surplus narrowed and the other services account deficit widened while that on the travel account narrowed.
The income account surplus fell slightly to 4.55 billion dollars
―
from the previous month's 5.9 billion dollars, led downward by worsening interest receipts.
The current transfers account registered a deficit of 0.81 billion
―
dollars similar to the previous year's 0.67 billion dollars.
The current account surplus in December 2009 narrowed to 1.52
◎
billion dollars from the previous month's 4.28 billion dollars, as the goods account surplus narrowed and the services account deficit widened.
Current Account Trends
The capital and financial account shifted in 2009 from the
□
previous year's net outflow of 50.08 billion dollars to a net inflow of 26.45 billion dollars.
Direct investment registered a net outflow of 9.07 billion dollars,
―
down from the previous year's 15.63 billion dollars, since the net outflow of outward foreign direct investment decreased more than the year before.
― ortfolio investment shifted from a net outflow of 2.41 billionP dollars to a net inflow of 50.68 billion dollars, as foreign investors' domestic securities investment shifted from a net outflow to a net inflow.
Financial derivatives recorded a net outflow of 5.54 billion
―
dollars, lower than the previous year's net outflow of 14.77 billion dollars, as financial derivative-related payments decreased.
Other investment marked a net outflow of 10.82
― billion dollars,
lower than the previous year's 17.38 billion dollars, as overseas loans shifted to a net inflow offsetting the shift to a net outflow of trade credits in response to the dearth of new shipbuilding orders.
The capital and financial account in December registered a net
□
inflow of 1.64 billion dollars, almost the same as the previous month's 1.54 billion dollars.
Reserve assets shifted from the previous year's net decrease of
□
56.45 billion dollars to a net increase of 69.06 billion dollars.
Balance of Payments Summary Table
1)(In 0.1 billion U.S. dollars, %)
2007 2008 2009p
12 11 12
. Current account
Ⅰ 58.8 -57.8 7.8 426.7 42.8 15.2
1. Goods 281.7 56.7 14.2 561.3 58.4 40.2
Exports(FOB) 3,790.5 4,329.2 274.1 3,735.8 348.1 363.5
(14.2) (14.2) (-18.8) (-13.7) (18.0) (32.6) (customs clearance) 3,714.9 4,220.1 271.2 3,635.3 339.9 360.1 (14.1) (13.6) (-17.9) (-13.9) (17.9) (32.8)
Imports(FOB) 3,508.8 4,272.5 260.0 3,174.6 289.7 323.2
(15.4) (21.8) (-21.4) (-25.7) (2.4) (24.3) (customs clearance) 3,568.5 4,352.7 265.8 3,230.8 295.3 329.2 (15.3) (22.0) (-21.6) (-25.8) (2.4) (23.9)
2. Services -197.7 -166.7 -15.5 -172.0 -16.6 -28.0
Credit 633.5 771.8 61.4 585.1 49.5 61.2
Debit 831.2 938.5 76.9 757.2 66.1 89.2
3. Income 10.0 59.0 5.9 45.5 3.9 7.0
Credit 197.8 231.2 18.1 157.0 13.7 15.3
Debit 187.8 172.2 12.2 111.5 9.8 8.3
4. Current transfers -35.3 -6.7 3.2 -8.1 -2.9 -4.0
Credit 111.6 140.7 14.0 124.6 9.0 11.3
Debit 146.9 147.4 10.8 132.7 11.9 15.3
. Capital & financial
Ⅱ account 71.3 -500.8 -56.8 264.5 15.4 16.4
1. Direct investment -138.4 -156.3 -4.6 -90.7 -28.4 -13.7
2. Portfolio investment -260.6 -24.1 5.8 506.8 33.9 9.7
3. Derivatives 54.4 -147.7 -34.9 -55.4 8.5 9.9
4. Other investment 439.6 -173.8 -24.0 -108.2 1.9 10.1
5. Capital transfers and acquisition of
non-financial assets -23.9 1.1 1.0 11.9 -0.5 0.3
. Changes in reserve
Ⅲ
assets2) -151.3 564.5 31.0 -690.6 -56.4 -30.1
. Errors & omissions
Ⅳ 21.2 -5.9 17.9 -0.5 -1.8 -1.5
Notes : 1) Figures in ( ) represent year-on-year changes.
2) Negative figures represent increases in reserve assets.
