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The Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Board held a policy meeting on April 17 and announced it would keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75%. / Photo by Lim Woo-seop

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75%, signaling a shift toward a wait-and-see approach amid growing domestic and global uncertainty.

At its monetary policy meeting on April 16, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Board announced it would hold the current rate, pausing a streak of rate cuts. The BOK had previously lowered the rate by a total of 0.75 percentage points over three rounds in October, November, and February.

The decision comes against the backdrop of rising uncertainty driven by the Trump administration’s increasingly protectionist trade stance and threats of additional tariffs on key strategic goods like semiconductors. Concerns over a global economic slowdown are mounting.

Analysts widely anticipated the BOK would pause rate cuts to monitor domestic conditions more closely, including the continued rise in household debt, volatility in the Seoul real estate market, and uncertainty surrounding the implementation of a supplementary budget. In fact, during the previous meeting in February, four out of six board members had voiced support for holding rates steady for the time being.

In a related move, the BOK revised its 2024 economic growth forecast for South Korea down from 1.9% to 1.5%, citing weak semiconductor exports, sluggish demand, and prolonged external risks. Global investment bank Morgan Stanley also adjusted its projection for Korea’s GDP growth in 2025–2026, lowering it from 1.2% to 1.0%.