South Korea's current account surplus hit close to a seven-year low in the first quarter amid declines of several key exports, including semiconductors.

According to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea on Wednesday, the country's current account surplus came to eleven-point-three billion dollars in the first three months of the year.

It’s the worst such performance since the second quarter of 2012, when the figure stood at ten-point-nine billion dollars.

The fall is attributed to a drop in the goods account surplus, which came to 19-point-six billion dollars in the January-March period, the lowest since the first quarter in 2014.

The country's exports decreased by eight-point-four percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, to 137-point-five billion dollars. This marks the first quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2016.

The country posted a current account surplus for 83 straight months in March, narrowing slightly to four-point-eight billion dollars from five-point-one billion dollars a year earlier.