SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea logged a current account surplus for the fourth successive month on the back of continued export growth, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 6.60 billion U.S. dollars in August, staying in the black since May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

For the first eight months of this year, the current account surplus stood at 53.60 billion dollars, sharply up from a surplus of 10.67 billion dollars tallied in the same period of last year.

The trade surplus for goods came to 6.59 billion dollars in August, remaining in black for the 17th straight month since April last year.

Exports grew 7.1 percent from a year earlier to 57.45 billion dollars in August, while imports rose 4.9 percent to 50.86 billion dollars.

The outbound shipment kept an upward trend for the 11th consecutive month since October last year due to robust demand for locally-made semiconductors and mobile devices.

The service account deficit amounted to 1.23 billion dollars in August, down from a deficit of 2.38 billion dollars in July.

The primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 1.69 billion dollars on overseas dividend income.

Financial accounts, which measure cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded a net outflow of 4.93 billion dollars in the cited month.

Overseas direct investment by domestic residents climbed by 4.46 billion dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea gained by 1.21 billion dollars.

For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents jumped by 8.64 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds grew by 2.62 billion dollars. Enditem

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