S. Korea posts US$ 5.7 bil. current account surplus in April, extending two-year streak

South Korea logged a current account surplus of 5-point-7 billion U.S. dollars in April, marking the 24th straight month in the black.

According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, stronger IT exports, including semiconductors, and a drop in energy import costs helped lift the balance.

The surplus, however, narrowed from the previous month, when it reached over 9 billion dollars.

While the goods balance edged up, the services account saw a wider deficit amid a spike in overseas R&D payments by Korean firms.

From January through April, the cumulative surplus came to nearly 25 billion dollars, up almost 7 billion from the same period last year.