South Korea's Benchmark Interest Rate Frozen for 12 Months

South Korea's central bank on Thursday announced in its monthly monetary policy meeting that the benchmark interest rate would remain at a record low of 2 percent for a 12th consecutive month.

South Korea's central bank on Thursday announced in its monthly monetary policy meeting that the benchmark interest rate would remain at a record low of 2 percent for a 12th consecutive month.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement that uncertainty still remained in the economic growth path due to the risk of government debt crises in some European countries.

"The central bank is considering raising the benchmark interest rate at a appropriate time, for a long-term low rate may lead to inflation", said an official of BOK, "However, the recovery of South Korea's economy is still slow, so the specific time is hard to predict."