Bank of Korea holds interest rates steady, as expected

SEOUL  – South Korea’s central bank held interest rates steady for a fifth straight meeting on Thursday, in line with market expectations, as inflation continues to ease and household debt remains high.

The Bank of Korea’s (BOK) seven-member monetary policy board voted to keep its policy rate unchanged at 3.5 percent, as it did at its meetings in February, April, May and July.

The decision matched the forecast of 43 economists in a Reuters survey, which also projected the central bank to stay on hold until the end of this year, before delivering a rate cut in the first quarter of 2024.

The BOK started its post-pandemic monetary tightening cycle in August 2021, well before the world’s other major central banks, and had raised interest rates by a total of 300 basis points over a 1-1/2-year period through to January this year.

READ: Bank of Korea holds rates, to keep policy restrictive