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In dollar terms, import prices grew 18.7 percent in January, with export prices gaining 3.5 percent, the BOK said.

The local currency fell 0.8 percent against the greenback in January from a month earlier. The price of Dubai crude, Korea’s benchmark, jumped 69 percent in January compared to a year earlier. South Korea is the world’s fourth-largest crude buyer.Raw material costs surged 48.7 percent year-on-year mainly due to higher oil prices while the prices of intermediate goods rose 10.6 percent in January, the BOK said.

South Korea did create some important government enterprises; i.e., Pohang Iron and Steel Company, Korea Telecommunications Authority, Korea Electric Power Corporation, the Office of the Railroad, and Korea Monopoly Corporation (for tobacco and ginseng products). The public sector provided 80-90 percent of the financial services, two thirds of the gas, electricity and water supplies, 30 percent of transportation and communications, 30 percent of mining, and 15 percent of manufacturing.