SEOUL, June 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea posted the biggest current account deficit in more than nine years in April as export tumbled amid an economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, central bank data showed Thursday.

Current account deficit amounted to 3.12 billion U.S. dollars in April, marking the biggest deficit since January 2011, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The current account balance turned into red in 12 months since April 2019 as the outbound shipment plunged on the back of the global economic slump from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Export dropped 24.8 percent in April from a year earlier, while import declined 16.9 percent in the month.

The trade surplus for goods plummeted to 820 million dollars in April from 5.61 billion dollars a year earlier.

Services account balance, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, logged a deficit of 1.42 billion dollars in April, up from a deficit of 1.27 billion dollars a year earlier.

Primary income account, which includes monthly salary and investment income, recorded a deficit of 2.29 billion dollars due to the payment of divided to foreign investors.

Financial account, which gauges cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, posted a net inflow of 6.32 billion dollars in April.

Overseas direct investment by local residents grew by 660 million dollars, while foreign direct investment in South Korea rose by 550 million dollars.

For the portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, overseas investment by domestic residents, expanded by 7.18 billion dollars. Foreign investment in local stocks and bonds increased by 3.07 billion dollars.