Seoul hits account target

Seoul hits account target

SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea said on Tuesday it had reached its targeted current account surplus for this year by end- November despite weakening exports and imports.

Analysts said the current account surplus could decline sharply next year on rising exports and imports.

Provisional central Bank of Korea figures showed the current account surplus for the first 11 months of the year at US$37.24 billion against an $11.75 billion deficit in the same period last year.

South Korea agreed in its latest quarterly review with the International Monetary Fund to target $37 billion for the total current account surplus this year.

The country also posted a current account surplus of $3.33 billion in November versus an $864 million surplus a year ago and a $2.70 billion surplus in October.

Free-on-board (FOB) exports in November fell to $11.56 billion from $12.1 billion a year ago, while FOB imports dropped to $8.08 billion from $11.49 billion, the central bank said.