Bank of Korea keeps key interest rate at 2%
South Korea’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged Thursday at a record low for a second straight month amid efforts to restore growth to the country’s slumping economy.
The Bank of Korea kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate at 2% at a regular monthly policy meeting.
South Korea’s export-driven economy has been battered by declines in global consumer demand that have caused plunges in exports and industrial output.
Lee Seong-tae, governor of the Bank of Korea, bangs the gavel to preside over a meeting to decide a benchmark call rate at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 9, 2009. South Korea's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged Thursday at a record low for a second straight month amid efforts to restore growth to the country's slumping economy.
(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
The central bank had slashed the benchmark rate six times from October 9 until last month’s meeting.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy shrank 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008 as manufacturing and exports crumpled.
The central bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee said in a statement that the pace of the slowdown in the domestic economy “has moderated somewhat,” while stock prices and the exchange rate have “shown some signs of improvement.”
Category: Korea
