Shin Seung-cheol, head of the BOK Economic Statistics Department, second from left, and other Bank of Korea (BOK) officials attend a press briefing, Thursday. Courtesy of BOK

Korea's current account surplus nearly tripled to over $99 billion (143 trillion won) last year, underpinned by strong exports of semiconductors and offshore equity investment income, central bank data showed Thursday.

The figure overshot the Bank of Korea (BOK) estimate of $90 billion, aided significantly by December's record-high current account surplus of over $12 billion.

However, experts say this year's outlook will be clouded by looming Trump tariff and trade uncertainties, as indicated by January's exports slumping 10 percent from the previous month. The county registered a trade deficit of $1.89 billion, breaking the surplus streak of 20 months.

According to BOK data, the country's current account surplus for 2024 came to $99.04 billion, tripling from the surplus of $32.82 billion in 2023.

As for December last year, the surplus came to $12.37 billion.

Propelling the highest December figure to date was a surplus of $10.43 billion in the goods account.

Exports came to $63.3 billion, up 6.6 percent from the previous year.

Information technology (IT) products encompassing semiconductors remained strong, coupled with the pace of decline in non-IT goods, including cars and chemical products, slowing down.

Exports of IT and communication equipment surged 37 percent, followed by semiconductors (30.6 percent) and steel products (6 percent).

Exports to Southeast Asia jumped 15.4 percent, followed by the European Union (15.2 percent), China (8.6 percent), Japan (6.1 percent) and the United States (5.5 percent).

Imports came to $52.87 billion, up 4.2 percent.

A decrease of 9.6 percent in raw material imports was unable to offset imports of capital goods and consumer goods.

Energy-related items, including gas, crude oil and coal, declined 26 percent, 23 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Transportation equipment, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and nondurable consumer goods increased 59 percent, 42 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Service accounts encompassing manufacturing, transport, travel, construction, intellectual property and other business services registered a deficit of $2.1 billion.

The deficit was greater than the $1.95 billion in November but was an improvement from the $2.98 billion deficit in December of 2023.

The travel accounts deficit came to $950 million, greater than the 760 million deficit in November, influenced by overseas travel demands in winter.

Primary income surplus stood at $4.76 billion in December, nearly doubling from $2.41 billion in November.

A significant portion of the surplus was dividends income of $3.59 billion, paid to Korean investors with holdings of offshore securities.

Financial accounts, as measured by assets relative to liabilities of Koreans and non-Koreans, had a net assets increase of $9.38 billion in December.

Koreans had a combined $6.95 billion increase in foreign asset holding, while foreign investment in Korea climbed $1.23 billion.

Korean investors increased their combined holdings in offshore assets — mostly equities — by $860 million.

Foreign holdings in Korea's equity market slid $3.8 billion.

Shin Seung-cheol, head of the BOK Economic Statistics Department, said the exports of high-end semiconductors will maintain a robust growth for an extended period this year.

This year's current account surplus will be, in his view, determined largely by the U.S. trade and tariff policies of the Trump administration and the responses of their major trading partners thereafter.

“We will have to monitor the timing of the policy implementations and whether and by how much they will be binding,” he said at a press conference at the bank. “The probability of January's trade deficit leading to a current account deficit will be limited.”

Meanwhile, trade ministry data showed January's exports came to $49.12 billion, a drop of more than 10 percent from a year earlier.

The ministry said the figure is ascribed to four fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

The trade balance deficit came to $1.89 billion.

This broke the 19 consecutive months of trade surplus from June 2023 through December 2024.

Still, the ministry said the January figure is not as grim a development since daily exports averaged $2.46 billion, up 7.7 percent from the previous month.

Dave Chia, an associate economist at Moody's Analytics, said Korea is expected to see a modest decline in the current account surplus in the coming months.

"While the boom in artificial intelligence will drive demand for advanced semiconductors, other sectors such as machinery, vehicles and manufactured goods will likely see weaker performance, which will weigh on overall goods exports," he said.

Global political uncertainty, including protectionist policies and potential trade frictions between the U.S. and China, could disrupt the smooth functioning of supply chains and impact foreign demand for Korean goods, in his view.

"In the longer term, we expect profit inflows from Korean investments, such as profits from foreign direct investment in overseas factories, to increase. This will help sustain a healthy current account surplus."