South Korea's current account swung into the red in March as overseas investors picked up their dividend payments, the central Bank of Korea said Thursday. The deficit stood at 1.49 billion dollars in March, a reverse from a revised surplus of 402.1 million dollars in the previous month.
The current account is the broadest measure of trade, services and investment flows into and out of the country. Seasonally adjusted, the current account had a deficit of 446 million dollars last month, compared with a surplus of 628.1 million dollars in February.
"The deficit was largely expected due to the seasonal overseas dividend payments in March-April," said Jeong Sam-Yong, senior manager of the central bank's balance of payments statistics team. He said the April deficit would be at a similar level to March's.