Corée du Sud Taux d'intérêt

The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept unchanged its base rate at 3.5% during the February meeting, as widely expected. The central bank maintained borrowing costs for the ninth consecutive meeting, saying it needed more time to assess changes in domestic and external conditions. While a slowing trend in domestic inflation continued, policymakers were aware of persistently high household debts and a slump in the property market. Thursday's move came after the board delivered seven rate hikes with a total of 300bps from April 2022 to January 2023. The BoK kept its 2024 growth forecast unchanged at 2.1%, mentioning a rise in exports, a slow recovery of consumption, and sluggish construction investment. Meantime, inflation is projected to stay at 2.6%, with core inflation seen to be 2.2%, slightly less than the prior forecast of 2.3%. The committee added it would keep a restrictive policy for a sufficiently long period until it was confident that inflation would converge on the target level.