The Bank of Korea has released its preliminary data on the country's current account balance for October.<br />Once again, the account logged a surplus... thanks to solid exports. <br />Our Ko Roon-hee explains. <br />Korea's current account recorded a surplus for the 80th month in a row in October... on the back of strong goods exports. <br />According to the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the current account saw a surplus of 9-point-1-9 billion U.S. dollars in October. <br /><br />The goods account had a surplus of eleven billion dollars... up from eight-point-six billion dollars in October last year.<br />The central bank attributed the increase to the high amount of exports of petroleum products.<br />This comes after international oil prices spiked in October.<br />Strong machinery exports... including manufacturing equipment also contributed to the surplus. <br />Another reason was that there were 5 extra business days in October this year... as the major Korean Chuseok holiday fell in September rather than October.<br /><br />The service account remained in the red..., with a deficit of 2-point-2-2 billion dollars for the month.<br />However, the deficit narrowed from the same period last year..., thanks to an improvement in the travel account, with the number of visitors from China and Japan both increasing on-year in October. <br />Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News. <br />
