The country posted a current account surplus in September, turning around from a deficit the previous month, but the surplus sharply decreased from a year ago.

According to tentative data released by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the country's current account balance logged a surplus of one-point-61 billion U.S. dollars in September.

Posting a deficit in August after three consecutive months of surplus, the balance returned to the black in September, but the total plunged by eight-point-89 billion dollars from a year earlier.

The drop is attributed to a sharp fall in the surplus of the goods balance, which slipped by over nine billion dollars on-year to 490 million dollars in September.

The cumulative current account surplus through September marked 24-point-one billion dollars, down nearly 43-point-three billion dollars from a year earlier.