Import Value to GNI Tops 50%
The Bank of Korea announced Wednesday that imports accounted for 53-point-three percent of the nation’s GNI in the first quarter. That’s the highest figure to be posted since related statistics began to be gathered in 1970.
Last year, imports accounted for 45-point-four percent of the GNI in the first quarter, 46-point-two percent in the second quarter and 44-point-six percent in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, when global oil prices began to skyrocket, the figure shot above 50 percent for the first time.
The total export value to the GNI also surpassed 50 percent to stand at 52-point-eight percent in the first quarter.
Export value to the GNI posted a record high of 55-point-three percent in 1998 during Asia’s financial recession, and declined to the 30 to 40 percent level before crossing over the 50 percent level again in the fourth quarter of last year.
The fact that the values of both import and export to the GNI top 100 percent clearly demonstrates that South Korea’s economy is heavily dependent on overseas trade.