South Korea’s current account surplus hit a six-month high last month thanks to lower spending on overseas travel and a fall in dividend payouts to foreign investors, the central bank said yesterday.
The surplus was US$3.83 billion last month compared with US$1.42 billion the previous month. It was the largest surplus since US$4.28 billion in November last year, the Bank of Korea said.
“Heightened geopolitical risks and the eurozone debt crisis weakened the local currency last month, prompting people to spend less on overseas trips,” Yonhap news agency quoted a central bank official as saying. “The income account swung to a surplus on the back of a cut in dividend payments for offshore investors.”
The current account surplus — the broadest measure of cross-border trade — could prop up the won, which has lost about 3 percent to the US dollar this year due to the EU debt crisis and heightened tensions with North Korea.
The goods balance posted a surplus of US$4.18 billion last month compared with a US$5.12 billion surplus the previous month. Exports rose 38.9 percent year-on-year to US$38.7 billion while imports jumped 50.2 percent to US$34.6 billion.
The income account, which records wages for foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, saw a surplus of US$298.3 million compared with a deficit of US$1.38 billion the previous month, as dividend payouts for foreign investors fell sharply.
The deficit in the service account, which includes spending by South Koreans on overseas trips, was US$642.7 million last month, down from a US$1.85 billion deficit in April.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Her white-gloved, waistcoated uniform impeccable, 22-year-old Hazuki Okuno boards a bullet train replica to rehearse the strict protocols behind the smooth operation of a Japanese institution turning 60 Tuesday. High-speed Shinkansen trains began running between Tokyo and Osaka on Oct. 1, 1964, heralding a new era for rail travel as Japan grew into an economic superpower after World War II. The service remains integral to the nation’s economy and way of life — so keeping it dazzlingly clean, punctual and accident-free is a serious job. At a 10-story, state-of-the-art staff training center, Okuno shouted from the window and signaled to imaginary colleagues, keeping
RSS