South Korea posted 8.71 billion U.S. dollars in current account surplus in July on the back of faster fall in imports than exports, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The current account balance stayed in black for 53 straight months, marking the longest monthly surplus, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Imports declined at a faster clip than exports, leading to a so-called "recession-type" surplus trend, but the July surplus was the lowest in three months due to weaker exports.

Exports slumped 10 percent from a year earlier to 42.51 billion dollars in July, while imports tumbled 15.1 percent to 31.7 billion dollars.

Trade surplus for goods amounted to 10.81 billion dollars in July, down from a 12.71 billion-dollar surplus in the previous month.

Source : XINHUA