Anchor: South Korea's current account surplus fell to a near seven-year low during the first quarter of 2019, due to weakening global demand for semiconductors and petrochemicals compounded by China's slowing economy.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: According to the Bank of Korea's(BOK) preliminary data on Wednesday, South Korea's current account surplus totaled eleven-point-25 billion dollars between January and March of this year.

It marks the smallest quarterly surplus since the ten-point-94 billion dollars recorded in the second quarter of 2012.

The slowdown in the global semiconductor industry and overall decline in the country's outbound shipments have forced the goods account surplus to shrink to a five-year low of 19-point-61 billion dollars during the first quarter.

Over the same period, exports dropped eight-point-four percent on-year to record 138 billion dollars.

A BOK official attributed the figures to a fall in world trade volumes, weakening global demand for semiconductors and petrochemicals and the continued decline in outbound shipments to China.

Shortly after the release of the data on Wednesday, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki called on the National Assembly to swiftly pass the six-point-seven-trillion won supplementary budget bill to help the country prepare for increasing downside risks.

Hong told officials timing and speed are crucial in implementing the extra budget, adding if the bill is not approved this month, its effects toward reviving the local economy will also decline.

While the Finance Ministry projects the economy to expand between two-point-six and two-point-seven percent this year, Hong previously said the extra budget will help boost growth by zero-point-one percentage point.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.