South Korea saw its annual exports slip for the second consecutive year.
 
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Sunday that South Korea’s exports amounted to 495-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars in 2016, down five-point-nine percent from 2015.
 
Exports witnessed growth slip eight percent in 2015 after posting growth of two-point-four percent in 2014.
 
Meanwhile, imports fell seven-point-one percent last year to 405-point-seven billion dollars.
 
As a result, the trade balance stood at 89-point-eight billion dollars and the monthly trade balance amounted to seven billion dollars, posting a surplus for the 59th consecutive month.

Exports in the fourth quarter of last year climbed one-point-nine percent year-on-year, posting growth for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2014.