SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's economy posted 98.68 billion U.S. dollars of current account surplus last year, marking the country's second-biggest surplus, central bank data showed on Friday.
The 2016 figure was the biggest ever South Korea has recorded, except for the 105.94 billion-dollar surplus tallied in 2015, according to Bank of Korea (BOK).
In December alone, the surplus amounted to 7.87 billion dollars, staying in the black for 58 straight months since March 2012.
Trade surplus for goods reached 120.45 billion dollars in 2016. It was attributable to faster fall in imports than exports.
Exports, which account for about half of the economy, declined 5.7 percent over the year to 511.78 billion dollars in 2016, while imports sank 7.0 percent to 391.33 billion dollars.
The services account balance posted a yearly deficit of 17.61 billion dollars in 2016, breaking the previous record high of 14.92 billion dollars logged in 2015.
The transport account recorded the deficit for the first time in 20 years amid the global economic slowdown that reduced demand for transportation by sea.
The travel account deficit amounted to 9.43 billion dollars, but the construction balance logged a surplus of 8.69 billion dollars last year.
