SEOUL, March 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus sharply fell in January compared to the previous month due to export downturn, central bank data showed Friday.

Current account balance, the broadest measure of cross-border trade, recorded a surplus of 2.94 billion U.S. dollars in January, down from 12.37 billion dollars tallied in December last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Trade surplus for goods dropped to 2.50 billion dollars in January from 10.43 billion dollars in the previous month on export reduction, caused by the Lunar New Year's holidays that lowered the number of working days.

Export declined 9.1 percent from a year earlier to 49.81 billion dollars in January, while import retreated 6.2 percent to 47.31 billion dollars.

Service account deficit came to 2.06 billion dollars in January, down from a deficit of 2.11 billion dollars in the prior month.

Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, registered a surplus of 2.62 billion dollars on dividend income from foreign stock investment that stood at 1.90 billion dollars.

Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and service, posted a net outflow of 3.72 billion dollars in the cited month.

Overseas direct investment by domestic residents decreased by 940 million dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea climbed by 1.23 billion dollars.

For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond trading, overseas investment by local residents jumped by 12.55 billion dollars, while foreign investment in local stocks and bonds shrank by 290 million dollars. Enditem

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