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| ▲ In this file photo, containers for export are stacked at a pier in South Korea's largest port city of Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on May 10, 2023. (Yonhap) |
BOK-rate freeze
BOK freezes key rate for 4th consecutive time amid slowdown, easing inflation
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank held its key interest rate steady for the fourth straight time Thursday in the face of murky growth outlook and moderating inflation.
In a widely expected decision, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) kept the benchmark seven-day repo rate unchanged at 3.5 percent.
This marked the fourth straight time that the BOK has stood pat following rate freezes in February, April and May. The rate freezes came after the BOK had delivered seven consecutive rate hikes since April 2022.
The back-to-back rate freezes are cautiously raising expectations that the BOK might be ending its rate hike movement amid signs of moderating inflation and rising economic slowdown woes.
In May, the central bank lowered its growth outlook for Asia's fourth-largest economy to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent predicted three months earlier.
Earlier this month, the finance ministry also cut its own growth outlook for the year to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent.
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