South Korea has posted its first current account deficit in seven years.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the country's current account deficit came to 660 million U.S. dollars at the end of April, a sharp turnaround from a surplus of four-point-82 billion dollars recorded a month earlier.

It marks the first deficit since April 2012, when South Korean exports to the European Union were slashed in the midst of the European debt crisis.

The latest deficit was attributed to a drop in the goods balance surplus due to slowing exports. In April, the country's outbound shipments slipped six-point-two percent on-year to 48-point-three billion dollars. 

The BOK said the decline came on the back of falling chip prices and sluggish global trade.

The country's imports came to 42-point-63 billion dollars for the month, up one-point-eight percent on-year, while the service account deficit narrowed to one-point-43 billion dollars, the smallest since December 2016.

The Finance Ministry, however, expects the deficit to be temporary and the current account balance to swing back to a surplus in May. 

It said the deficit was partly due to dividend payments to foreign investors, which are typically concentrated in April. The ministry projected an overall surplus of 60 billion dollars for the year.