Anchor: South Korea’s export and import prices both posted a new high in January. Attention is being drawn to whether import prices, which can affect consumer prices, will continue to climb. Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: The Bank of Korea announced on Tuesday that the nation’s import price index for January stood at 84-point-nine, up two-point-one percent from the previous month.
 
The figure was the highest to be posted since December of 2014.
 
Compared to a year ago, the figure jumped more than 13 percent, marking the largest year-on-year growth in five years and three months.
 
Global oil prices and the weakening of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar were what drove up import prices.    
 
Dubai crude oil prices rose more than three percent last month and the average won-dollar exchange rate rose two-tenths of a percent to more than one-thousand-185 won.  
 
Import prices of fresh marine products, which are deeply related to consumer prices, grew six-point-two percent from last December.
 
Meanwhile, the nation’s export price index grew one-point-one percent, also posting a new high for the first time in 26 months.
 
The figure grew following a weaker local currency and a rise in prices of electronic devices.        
 
 Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.