We start over at the Bank of Korea... the preliminary balance of payments data for March and the first quarter of this year are out.<br />And they show the nation's goods account surplus dipped sharply.<br />Our Kim Hye-sung tells us why. <br />South Korea's current account surplus for the first quarter of 2019 slumped to a low not seen in roughly seven years. <br />The Bank of Korea says the current account surplus recorded eleven-point-two-five billion U.S. dollars, the smallest figure since second quarter of 2012,... mainly due to slowing global trade and sluggish chip exports.<br />Both exports and imports dipped by around eight percent on-year in the first quarter. <br />The goods exports surplus fell near three billion dollars on-year, narrowing to 19-point-six billion dollars in the first quarter, a five-year low.<br />This came as chip exports -- that account for a fifth of the country's total exports at around eight percent of GDP -- plunged more than 20 percent.<br />Petrochemical goods exports also declined five percent. <br />By region, exports to the U.S. increased but shipments to China, Japan, the EU and the Middle East all fell in the first quarter.<br />The services account deficit, however, narrowed by one-point-seven billion dollars to seven-point-seven billion dollars thanks to more Chinese and Japanese tourists travelling to Korea. <br />In the month of March, the current account surplus recorded four-point-eight billion dollars, remaining in the black for the 83rd consecutive month.<br />But still, both exports and imports fell more than nine percent on-year. <br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News. <br />
