South Korea surplus figures: keeping the comparison consistent

QNA reported on October 25 that South Korea’s second-quarter current-account surplus reached $116.63 billion, citing Bank of Korea data. The comparison lists China at $193.72 billion, Germany at $52.28 billion and Japan at $50.62 billion.

Those figures place the Korean surplus above Germany and Japan combined for the same quarter, not above the size of their economies. The report links the increase to semiconductor exports. Readers should retain the quarterly time frame: a current-account balance is neither annual output nor a government budget balance.