South Korea's import prices fell by the largest degree in almost 10 years in May as the oil price rise stepped back and consumer demand remained sluggish, the central bank said Monday.
The nation's import prices topped an on-year decrease of 13.9 percent for March, compared with a 1.8 percent on-year fall in the previous month, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said.
The decrease rate for May stood at the greatest on-year fall since June 1999 when import prices dipped 14.3 percent, according to the BOK.
The May fall came as raw material prices shed 32.4 percent on-year in May and oil prices remained around 70 U.S. dollars per barrel, sharply lower than a year earlier when they peaked at 147 U.S. dollars per barrel.
"Although the South Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar from a year earlier, the global economic slump and a sharp on-year decline in oil prices contributed to a fall in import prices," an official at the BOK said.
Meanwhile, the country's export prices declined 4.1 percent from a year earlier, the first fall in 19 months and the steepest since February 2007.
Source:Xinhua
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