Business & Economy

South Korea raises benchmark rate to 3 percent to tame inflation

Seoul, Oct 12 (EFE).- The Bank of Korea (BoK) raised Wednesday its Base Rate rate by half a point to 3 percent, the highest since 2012, in order to control spiraling inflation in South Korea.

This was the eighth such hike announced by the Monetary Policy Board of BoK since August of 2021, when the rate was 0.5 percent, its lowest ever, amid the pandemic.

It is also the second hike by half a percentage point implemented in this year after one in July.

The current hike comes as the central bank stresses on taming escalating prices, caused mainly due to the high cost of raw material and energy that the Asian country has to import.

These current developments are expected to further contribute to the weakening of the won, which has already lost 17 percent of its value against the dollar so far this year. EFE

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