SEOUL, June 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus with the United States hit a five-year high in 2020, while the surplus with China logging the lowest in 11 years, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The country's current account surplus with the United States amounted to 33.16 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, up from 19.11 billion dollars in the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the highest in five years since 2015 on the back of the reduced import of goods, especially raw materials, from the United States.
South Koreans' travel to the United States shrank last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, diminishing the country's services account deficit that reached the 13-year low of 8.53 billion dollars.
The current account surplus with China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, retreated from 25.96 billion dollars in 2019 to 16.97 billion dollars in 2020. It was the lowest in 11 years since 2009.
The surplus in goods trade with China recorded a 12-year low of 14.44 billion dollars last year due to lower export of oil products and fire-processed articles.
The travel account surplus with China tumbled from 6.46 billion dollars in 2019 to 1.64 billion dollars in 2020 amid the prolonged pandemic.
South Korea's current account deficit with Japan gained from 19.02 billion dollars to 21.31 billion dollars in the cited period owing to the reduced export of oil and steel products.
The current account deficit with the European Union (EU) increased from 5.59 billion dollars to 7.09 billion dollars, and the current account surplus with Southeast Asian countries slumped from 83.17 billion dollars to 78.56 billion dollars.
The deficit with the Middle East dropped from 53.03 billion dollars to 28.05 billion dollars on the lower crude oil prices.
South Korea posted a current account deficit of 620 million dollars in 2020, slumping from a surplus of 3.99 billion dollars in the previous year. Enditem