SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank said on Tuesday that price of imported goods in the country continued to fall in August over the same period of last year, marking the fifth straight month of declines.

    The country's won-based import prices rose 2.1 percent from the previous month due to higher prices of oil and other raw materials, but still fell 7 percent from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement.

    However, officials believed that "the on-month gain in import prices reflected hopes for an economic recovery" in the country, according to Yonhap News Agency.

    Meanwhile, the country's export prices in won terms also dropped 1.1 percent from a year ago, a fourth consecutive month off all, but easing from a 2.7 percent decline in July.

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