South Korea’s export and import prices have risen sharply due to a weaker local currency.
According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the export price index was estimated at 83-point-99 for November, up by four-point-one percent from October.
It is the sharpest increase in seven years and nine months since February 2009 when the index rose four-point-eight percent.
It also marks the ninth consecutive month the index posted an on-month gain.
Compared to November last year, it rose three-point-eight percent.
The central bank attributes the jump to the weakening of the won against the U.S. dollar in addition to increases in prices of certain items such as electric or electronic products.
The average won-dollar exchange rate rose three-point-two percent to one-thousand-161-point-64 won in November from October’s one-thousand-125-point-28 won.
November’s import price index, meanwhile, stood at 79-point-74, up two-point-four percent from October.
It is the third straight month the index rose following gains of four-point-four percent in October and zero-point-two percent in September.
By item, the import price of raw materials rose zero-point-eight percent last month from a month earlier, while that of intermediary goods jumped three-point-four percent.