The country's current account posted a deficit in November for the first time in three months due to a plunge in chip exports.

According to tentative data released by the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the country's current account balance logged a deficit of 620 million U.S. dollars in November.

It marked the first deficit in three months and also represented a sharp decline compared to a surplus of six-point-82 billion dollars logged a year earlier.

The deficit is attributed to sluggish exports, which slipped 12-point-three percent on-year in November, with shipments of semiconductors plunging 28-point-six percent in the period amid concerns about a global economic slowdown.

Imports, however, inched up zero-point-six percent on-year to nearly 53-point-nine billion dollars.

The cumulative current account surplus in the January-to-November period marked 24-point-37 billion dollars, a significant drop from a surplus of 82-point-24 billion dollars in the same period of 2021.