South Korea’s current account surplus, a key barometer of the nation’s trade, surpassed $10 billion and hit a two-year high in September, the central bank said Thursday, feeding anticipations that it would easily top its 2020 outlook of $54 billion.

On the back of improved exports, the surplus came to $10.21 billion in September, compared to $6.57 billion the previous month, the Bank of Korea said. This marked a surplus for Asia’s fourth-largest economy for five consecutive months and the largest surplus since September 2018. The corresponding figure stood at $11.24 billion at the time.

The accumulated current account surplus in the January-September period gained $1.5 billion on-year to $43.4 billion.

“Following the outbreak of COVID-19, as economic activities resumed exports improved more than imports, leading to the largest surplus in 24 months in September,” said Park Yang-su, head of the BOK’s economicsstatistics department.

“With exports project to extend recovery in October, the surplus is expected to hit its 2020 forecast of $54 billion smoothly and may even near last year’s surplus of $60 billion,” he added. But at the same time, Park warned of risks tied to resurgence of the coronavirus and the US presidential election.

Exports, a key of the nation’s economy, gained 8 percent on-year to $49.85 billion in September. Imports climbed 1 percent to $37.83 billion in the cited period. Outbound shipments were driven by chips -- which account for a huge chunk of the country’s exports -- gaining 12.4 percent in the same period. Exports of chemicals fueled the figure by gaining 16 percent, as auto and auto parts were up 19.3 percent, compared to the previous year.

Outbound shipments to most nations improved significantly, with those to Southeast Asia, China and the US respectively increasing by 6 percent, 8.2 percent and 23.2 percent in the same period.

The data signaled a solid improvement in the nation’s exports, which had been dealt a blow by the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. September marked the first time in seven months that both exports and imports saw on-year gains simultaneously.

The goods balance logged a surplus of $12.02 billion in September, larger than a surplus of $7.01 billion in August. The surplus in the goods balance also hit a two-year high in September mainly because exports posted on-year growth for the first time since February, the BOK said.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)