South Korea's current account swang to a USD 0.66 billion deficit in April 2019 from a USD 1.36 billion surplus in the same month the previous year. It is the first current account gap since April 2012, as the goods surplus declined to USD 5.67 billion from USD 9.62 billion a year ago. Exports fell to USD 48.3 billion (from USD 51.51 billion in April 2018), partly because of lower prices for semiconductors; and imports rose to USD 42.63 billion (from USD 41.89 billion). In contrast, the primary income deficit narrowed to USD 4.33 billion from USD 5.62 billion, the services income gap fell to USD 1.43 billion from USD 1.98 billion, and the secondary account shortfall declined to USD 0.57 billion from USD 0.66 billion. Considering the first four months of the year, the country's current account posted a USD 10.58 billion surplus compared to a USD 13.01 surplus in the same period of 2018. Current Account in South Korea averaged 1556.54 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 7500.00 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 4500.00 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.