BOK-rate decision

BOK delivers yet another quarter-point rate hike to fight inflation

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank delivered a quarter percentage-point interest rate hike Friday as it focuses on tackling persistently high inflation despite mounting worries over an economic slowdown.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) convened this year's first rate-setting monetary policy board meeting early in the day and lifted the benchmark seven-day repo rate from 3.25 percent to 3.5 percent.

This marked the seventh straight rate increase since April last year and came after a 0.25 percentage point hike delivered at the last meeting of 2022 in November.

It also represented the 10th increase of a combined 3 percentage points since August 2021, when the BOK began "normalizing" the ultralow rate, put in place to bolster the pandemic-hit economy, and fighting fast-rising inflation pressure.

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