South Korea's current account surplus narrowed to USD 5.27 billion in August 2019 from USD 8.55 billion in the same month the previous year, as the goods surplus fell to USD 4.77 billion from USD 10.92 billion amid a tumble in exports (-15.6 percent), on lower prices for oil products and semiconductors. Meantime, the services deficit fell to USD 1.80 billion from USD 2.04 billion a year ago, whereas the primary income surplus narrowed to USD 2.56 billion from USD 3.20 billion. Additionally, the secondary income gap narrowed to USD 0.26 billion from USD 0.65 billion. Considering the first eight months of the year, the country's current account surplus narrowed to USD 33.99 billion from USD 46.00 billion in the same period of 2018. Current Account in South Korea averaged 1592.55 USD Million from 1900 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 12409.70 USD Million in June of 2016 and a record low of -3845 USD Million in August of 2008.
Current Account in South Korea is expected to be 3200.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in South Korea to stand at 5500.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the South Korea Current Account is projected to trend around 4100.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.