BOK to consider growth in setting monetary policy direction after raising rates to 'restrictive' level

• Published date: 21 February 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has raised its interest rate to a "restrictive" level over the past few years and future monetary policy decisions will be made after closely analyzing not just inflation but also economic growth and other various factors, the central bank said Tuesday.

The BOK showed its broad monetary policy direction in a brief to lawmakers ahead of its rate-setting meeting scheduled for Thursday amid expectations that it could stand pat after raising the rate by 3 percentage points to 3.5 percent over the past 1 1/2 years to bring inflation under control.

"Following a 0.5 percentage-point increase in the benchmark interest rate in October of last year, there were also increases of a quarter percentage...