Interest Rate Frozen for Another Month

THE LENDER of Korea on Thursday decided to maintain the country's benchmark interest at 0.5 percent for another month, marking almost a year of record-low interest levels.

The base rate was slashed from 0.75 percent last May.

BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters, "The global economy is recovering as a result of pump-priming policies in major countries and coronavirus vaccination. The Korean economy can be expected to recover predicated on exports and investment, but uncertainty remains how fast it'll recover."

He added the Korean economy will most likely grow a lot more than the three percent forecast in February.

But he sounded a cautious note when asked if the slow pace of Korea's vaccination drive could drag down the economy. "It's worrisome that the pandemic hasn't abated and a mere two percent of the populace have already been vaccinated," he said. "We made the forecast on the assumption that the pandemic won't worsen further and the federal government is making multifaceted efforts to vaccinate more folks."