BOK policymakers vote unanimously for September rate freeze, minutes show

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Policymakers at South Korea's central bank voted unanimously to hold the key interest rate steady last month amid conflicting risks of persisting inflation and a slowing economy, its September minutes showed Tuesday.

In a rate-setting meeting on Sept. 11, the Bank of Korea (BOK) froze the
benchmark 7-day repo rate at 5.25 percent following August's rate hike.
"Upside pressure to inflation somewhat eased while downside risk to growth
increased and uncertainty in the financial markets sharply rose. The BOK needs to
closely monitor the situation as well as to watch effects from the previous
month's rate hike," one policymaker said.
After trimming the rate by a quarter percentage point in October, the BOK cut its
policy rate on Monday by 0.75 percentage point, its largest cut ever, to 4.25
percent in a bid to keep global financial turmoil from sharply slowing the real
economy.
BOK Gov. Lee Seong-tae hinted at an additional rate cut, saying that amid
faltering domestic demand and global financial turmoil, the central bank will be
paying attention to those risks for the time being. The next rate review is
slated for Nov. 7.