South Korea April current account swings to big deficit

(C) Reuters.

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s current account swung to a big deficit in April from a surplus in March on a combination of annual dividend payments by local companies and a sharp fall in exports, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country posted a provisional current account deficit of $3.12 billion in April, compared with a revised surplus of $5.96 billion in March, the Bank of Korea data showed.

The shortfall is the biggest since January 2011. It was largely in line with expectations by the government and the markets as annual dividend payments by local companies to their shareholders were mostly made during the same month.