BoK May Freeze Key Rate

South Korea’s central bank will likely hold its policy rate unchanged at the current 1.5% at its upcoming monetary meeting next week due to still low inflation pressure and rising uncertainties over trade disputes, a market watcher said Saturday, Yonhap reported. Chaired by Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, the seven-member panel will hold its fifth monetary policy meeting Thursday and decide whether to keep or adjust the key rate. The BoK has maintained the present level in the previous four sessions since it raised the rate by a quarter percentage point from an all-time low of 1.25% in its monetary meeting in November last year. “The Bank of Korea will likely keep the policy rate at 1.5% in July,” Moody’s Analytics said in its weekly report. “Although inflation climbed to a six-month high in April, price pressures remain relatively mild, as a strong won and a softening labor market are keeping a lid on price pressures.” South Korea’s consumer price index rose 1.6% in April, accelerating from a 1.3% gain in March and marking the sharpest rise in six months. Inflation slid to 1.5% for May and June, lagging far below the 2% target level for nine months in a row.