Korea Business News Agency - NSP NEWS AGENCY.

(Seoul=NSP News Agency) soon ki Lee Journalist = The Bank of Korea(BOK) said, “Next year’s growth rate is expected to be 1.7%, significantly lower than the previous estimate of 2.1%, and it is necessary to continue the interest rate hike for the time being.”

In the 24th, the Monetary Policy Committee of BOK said, “We decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.25%p from the current 3% to 3.25%.” Accordingly, the benchmark interest rate will be operated at the 3% level until the next decision.

Regarding the background for the decision on the benchmark interest rate, BOK said, “As the high level of inflation continues, it is necessary to continue policy responses to stabilize prices,” adding, “We judged that 0.25%p is appropriate considering that the degree of economic slowdown is expected to be larger than the August forecast, risks in the foreign exchange sector have eased and the short-term financial market has contracted.”

It is considered that concerns about a money market crunch caused by the Legoland incident influenced the decision of baby step(a 0.25%p increase in the base rate at a time).

BOK said, “In the domestic economy, consumption continued to recover, but growth rate continued to slow, with exports turning to decline,” adding, “Employment has slowed down, but good conditions have continued, with low unemployment levels continuing.”

“In the future, the growth of the domestic economy is expected to weaken due to the global economic slowdown and rising interest rates,” it said, “This year’s growth rate will meet the forecast(2.6%) of August, but next year is expected to be 1.7%, far below the previous forecast(2.1%).”

NSP News Agency soon ki Lee Journalist s8789@nspna.com
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