South Korea’s current account surplus widened from a year earlier in February on narrowing service account deficits and imports slipping faster than exports, central bank data showed Friday.

The current account surplus came to $7.51 billion in February, compared to a revised $6.82 billion surplus in the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

From a year earlier, the February reading marks a whopping 23.5 percent spike. February also marks the 48th consecutive month of surplus.

“In the services account, even despite a shift from surplus to deficit in the use of intellectual property account, the overall deficit shrank from $1.93 billion in January to $1.27 billion, thanks to improvements in the travel and other business services accounts,” the central bank said in a press release.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)