SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus hit a 9-month high in July as people refrained from going on an overseas trip amid the COVID-19 outbreak across the world, central bank data showed Friday.

Current account surplus reached 7.45 billion U.S. dollars in July, marking the highest since October 2019, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Services account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, logged a deficit of 1.11 billion dollars in July, down from a deficit of 1.55 billion dollars tallied a year earlier.

Travel account deficit amounted to 370 million dollars in July, down from 1.13 billion dollars a year ago.

People were discouraged from traveling abroad due to worry about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the global economic downturn from the COVID-19 outbreak, both the export and import of goods declined for the fifth consecutive month through July.

Trade surplus for goods stood at 6.97 billion dollars in July, up 0.79 billion dollars from a year earlier.

Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, recorded a surplus of 1.95 billion dollars in July, down from a surplus of 2.47 billion dollars a year ago.

Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, logged a net outflow of 9.59 billion dollars in the month. Enditem

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