South Korea's trade balance swung to a surplus of 3.29 billion dollars in February from a deficit of 3.35 billion dollars a month earlier, customs data showed Sunday. The turnaround for Asia's fourth largest economy resulted from a slower decrease in exports and a still sharp fall in imports, the data showed.
Exports fell 17.1 percent year-on-year to 25.85 billion dollars in February while imports plunged 30.9 percent to 22.56 billion dollars, according to data on the Korea Customs Service website.
In January, exports fell by a record 33.8 percent year-on-year to 21.37 billion dollars and imports dropped 31.9 percent to 24.72 billion. Minister of Knowledge Economy Lee Youn-Ho last week said the country was likely to register a trade surplus in March as well if the effect of the won's fall against the dollar continued. The economy of South Korea - a leading exporter of memory chips, mobile handsets, cars and ships - has been hit hard by the global downturn.
South Korea's central bank said Friday the current account swung to a 1.36-billion-dollar deficit in January as consumers and companies cut spending.