South Korea's import prices climbed for the sixth straight month in September due to rising oil costs, the central bank said Thursday.
In local currency terms, import prices increased 7.8 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from a 5.7 percent on-year gain posted in August, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement.
It was the steepest import price advance in three months, the BOK noted. Compared with August, the country's import prices remained unchanged last month, the bank said.
The central bank said the September on-year increase is largely attributable to rising oil costs. South Korea relies entirely on imports for its oil needs.
The prices of imported raw materials, mostly oil, spiked 18.2 percent last month compared with a year earlier, the bank said.
The results came after the central bank froze its base interest rate at 2.25 percent for October earlier in the day, holding it unchanged for the third straight month. The decision went against analyst predictions that it would increase at least 0.25 percentage points. (PNA/Xinhua)
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