Seoul - South Korea recorded a record current account surplus in March as imports weakened more than the country's falling exports, the central bank said Wednesday. The surplus hit 6.65 billion dollars, nearly double the surplus seen in February of 3.56 billion dollars, the Bank of Korea said, adding that it expected another surplus this month as a decline in exports caused by the global economic crisis slows.

The March surplus was the biggest recorded for Asia's fourth-largest economy since the Bank of Korea started keeping such statistics in 1980.

South Korea showed a surplus in its trade in goods of 7 billion dollars in March despite falling exports, which declined 17.8 per cent from March 2008 to 30.4 billion dollars. Imports dropped 35.8 per cent to 23.4 billion dollars.

In comparison to February, March exports rose 7.4 per cent.

The Bank of Korea said for all of 2009, it expected a current account surplus of 18 billion dollars after high oil prices caused a deficit last year of 6.41 billion dollars, South Korea's first in 11 years.

South Korea's economy saw a slight uptick of 0.1 per cent in its economic growth in the first quarter from the previous quarter after recording a 5.1-per-cent downturn in the last three months of 2008.

A country's current account measures the difference between the goods and services its exports against the goods and services it imports.(dpa)