Key rate unchanged at 2.5% for December(korea)

The central bank froze the key interest rate on Thursday due to the eurozone debt woes and heightened regional tension following a rate hike last month. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers left the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, unchanged at 2.5 percent, as widely anticipated. The BOK raised the borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point in November, following a three-month freeze, in a bid to curb growing inflationary pressure. It hiked the rate from a record low of 2 percent in July, the first rate increase since the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis.

mook@koreatimes.co.kr