SEOUL, April 29 (Reuters) - South Korea's Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said on Wednesday the country's monthly trade balance reading could swing to a deficit in April for the first time since 2012 as the coronavirus takes a heavy toll on the trade-reliant economy.

Kim also said the ministry sees exports in April posting the worst contraction since the global financial crisis and that the exports slump will continue for some time given the virus pandemic.

He added that a temporary recovery seen in March industrial output data was unlikely to continue. (Reporting by Joori Roh, Cynthia Kim; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)