South Korea’s current account surplus extended its record for the 34th consecutive month in December, but the accumulated annual amount fell below the central bank’s initial forecast last year, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea on Monday.

The current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade, hit a record high of $89.4 billion last year, up from $81.1 billion a year before ― but slightly short of the central bank’s forecast of $90 billion.

In December, the current account surplus reached $7.2 billion, down from $11.3 billion a month before.

Korean exports increased 3.6 percent to $49.7 billion in December, reaching $573.1 billion in total last year, up 2.4 percent from a year ago, thanks to increased outbound shipments of telecommunications equipment and semiconductors.

Exports to Korea’s free trade partners such as the U.S. and Europe increased, while those to China, the country’s largest export destination, decreased.

Exports to the U.S. increased 13 percent to $70.3 billion, and exports to Europe reached about $51.7 billion last year, up about 6 percent from a year ago, despite a slowdown in the region. Exports to China decreased 4 percent to $145.3 billion in the same period.

Meanwhile, imports to Korea decreased 0.9 percent to $43.9 billion in December last year. But imports to the country increased 1.9 percent to $525.6 billion for the year mostly due to shipments of equipment and machinery, and consumer goods, the central bank noted.

Imports of capital and consumer goods increased 3.2 percent and 12.2 percent last year, respectively, while imports of commodities decreased 0.6 percent, mostly due to falling oil prices.

The service account saw its deficit widen to $1.54 billion in December from $165 million in November due to the worsening of the travel and transport accounts.

The accumulated service account deficit increased to $8.2 billion last year, from a $6.5 billion deficit a year ago, the central bank reported.

Korea’s travel account posted a deficit of some $560 million in December, from a surplus of $10 million in the previous month, while its transport account deficit reached $180 million from a surplus of 330 million in the same period.

Last month, the BOK revised down its growth forecast to 3.4 percent from 3.9 percent for this year amid weakening consumption and private investment. It also cut its inflation forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.4 percent amid falling oil prices.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)