S. Korea forecast to log US$2.5 bln trade surplus next year

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is expected to post a trade surplus of US$2.5 billion next year largely thanks to a steady growth in overseas sales, a trade organization said Friday.

According to the Korea Investment Trade Association (KITA), the country's exports
are forecast to grow 8.6 percent next year to $482.5 billion, while imports are
expected to increase 6.2 percent to $480 billion.
On Tuesday, the government said it aims to boost exports by 15 percent with a
target of $500 billion and bring the trade account back into the black by 2009.

Exports rose at the slowest pace in 13 months in October as sales to China, South
Korea's biggest overseas market, fell for the first time since 2002, according to
the government.
During the first ten months of 2008, the nation's exports expanded by 21.3
percent from the same period last year.
Maintaining export growth, the main engine behind Korea's 10 year economic
expansion, may prove difficult as recessions loom in Europe, the U.S. and parts
of Asia.
The KITA forecast that the economy is likely to suffer a trade deficit of $7.8
billion this year due to high oil import bills, the first annual shortfall in 11
years.
The country's imports of oil and other energy resources reached $113 billion in
the first nine months of the year, compared with $66.3 billion a year earlier.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, reported a deficit of $6.2 billion in
trade for the first-half of this year.