South Korea’s terms of trade worsened in May from a year earlier as prices for exports fell at a faster pace than those for imports, the central bank said Monday.

The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods came in at 89.33 in May, down 0.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. It marks the first on-year decline since January. The figure is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. The base year is 2010, with a benchmark index of 100.

Korea’s income terms-of-trade index reached 116.25 in May, also down 2.4 percent from a year earlier due to a slump in exports and deteriorated terms of trade, the central bank added. The index measures how much can be imported with the total export value.

South Korea’s exports dropped 0.9 percent from a year earlier in May to reach $47.88 billion, earlier government data showed. Exports, which account for about 50 percent of the South Korean economy, are forecast to grow 6.5 percent this year, up from a 4.5 percent gain tallied for last year, the BOK said. (Yonhap)