South Korea booked a current account surplus of $42.1 billion in July, down from $49.7 billion in June, according to data from the Bank of Korea published Friday.
The figure missed Trading Economics' $50 billion surplus forecast.
Of the total, the goods account surplus fell to $40.4 billion from $47.9 billion the previous month as exports and imports dropped month on month to $100.5 billion from $112.4 billion and $60.0 billion from $64.5 billion, respectively.
Services account logged a larger deficit of $1.97 billion versus $1.29 billion in June, weighed down by deficits in other business services and manufacturing services accounts.