Driven by a boom in semiconductor exports, South Korea's current account balance recorded a surplus of $61.46 billion in September, setting an all-time high. It is the first time that the monthly current account surplus has exceeded $60 billion.
According to the "Preliminary Balance of Payments for September 2026" released by the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the current account balance in September was recorded at a surplus of $61.46 billion, an increase of $15.34 billion from the previous month. This surpassed the previous record set in June ($49.73 billion) just three months later.
The expansion of the current account surplus was driven by the goods balance. The goods balance recorded a surplus of $62.75 billion, an all-time high. Goods exports reached $130.72 billion, up 92.4% year-on-year, exceeding $100 billion for the fourth consecutive month.
In particular, customs-based semiconductor exports surged 260.3% year-on-year to $60.5 billion. Semiconductor export prices rose by 182.1%, while volumes increased by 30.5%.
Park Seong-gon, Head of the Balance of Payments Team at the Bank of Korea, stated, "Looking at cumulative exports from January to October, semiconductors can be seen as contributing approximately 45.2 percentage points to export growth."
Items other than semiconductors also showed relatively favorable trends. Customs-based exports of petroleum products increased by 73.3%, steel products by 6.7%, and machinery and precision instruments by 6.3%. In contrast, automobile exports decreased by 5.6%.
Kim Young-hwan, Director of the First Economic Statistics Department at the Bank of Korea, assessed, "Since semiconductors are performing exceptionally well, I believe non-IT sectors are also holding up reasonably well," adding that "petroleum products, steel, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and defense industries showed favorable performance."
Goods imports reached $67.97 billion, up 29.4% year-on-year. Customs-based imports of raw materials increased by 21.3%, while capital goods imports rose by 42.3%.
The services balance recorded a deficit of $3.35 billion, widening from the previous month's deficit of $1.68 billion. The transportation balance posted a surplus of $130 million, but the surplus narrowed due to increased payments for charter fees. The travel balance showed a deficit of $770 million, and the intellectual property services balance recorded a deficit of $770 million.
The primary income balance recorded a surplus of $2.65 billion, centered on dividend income.
Net assets in the financial account increased by $54.34 billion, marking the largest increase on record. Overseas securities investment by domestic residents rose by $16.63 billion. Among these, overseas equity investment increased by $9.91 billion, and overseas bond investment grew by $6.72 billion. Overseas bond investment set a new all-time high for the second consecutive month.
Director Kim explained the background of the increase in overseas bond investment, stating, "There is an aspect of rising global interest rates, and particularly in our country's case, there has also been an impact from the decline in the exchange rate."
In contrast, domestic securities investment by foreigners decreased by $13.81 billion. This was due to net selling of $13.74 billion in domestic stocks, centered on major semiconductor shares.
Meanwhile, the cumulative current account surplus from January to September this year reached $340.66 billion, approximately four times the same period last year ($83.89 billion). This level represents 75.7% of the annual forecast of $450 billion presented by the Bank of Korea. The Bank of Korea noted that if it records a monthly average current account surplus of around $36.5 billion over the remaining three months, it will be able to achieve this year's forecast.
Director Kim said, "In October, exports decreased and imports increased compared to September, narrowing the customs-based trade balance surplus, but I expect a current account surplus in the range of $40 billion based on the current account standard," adding that "there may also be an effect of year-end export increases in November and December."
in ECONOMY
