The South Korean Central Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged for the fourth time in a row on Thursday, in the face of uncertain growth expectations and moderate 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.

According to South Korea’s news agency (Yonhap), 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, Yonhap added.

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.

The central bank lowered its forecast for economic growth in May from 1.6 percent in its previous estimate in February to 1.4 percent, while the Ministry of Finance also revised earlier this month its forecast for economic growth for this year from 1.6 percent to 1.4 percent.

Source: Qatar News Agency