South Korea’s central bank kept policy interest rates unchanged on Thursday, meeting market forecasts and ending a year of consecutive hikes.
The loan rate set by the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy board has been maintained at 3.5%.
Among its global peers, the Bank of Korea is among the first to halt its rate-hike cycle.
The country’s economy is expected to increase by 1.6% this year, which is less than the 1.7% expansion predicted in November.
The central bank also anticipates that the economy would feel the effects of a global recession as a result of increased interest rates worldwide.
