The Monetary Policy Committee (Monetary Policy Committee) of the Bank of Korea holds a monetary policy direction meeting at 9:00 am today (13th) and decides whether to adjust the base rate, which is currently 3.25%.
Among economic and financial experts, the prevailing view is that the MPC will raise the base rate again by 0.25 percentage points, taking into account the consumer price inflation rate, which is still reaching 5%, and the base rate gap with the US, which has widened to 1.25 percentage points (p).
As expected, if the baby step (a 0.25 percentage point increase in the base rate) takes place today, it will be the first seven consecutive hikes in history following April, May, July, August, October and November last year.
The reason why the market and experts are putting weight on further hikes in the key interest rate is because, above all, inflationary (inflationary) pressure remains.
In December last year, the consumer price index (109.28) rose 5.0% from a year ago.
Although the rate of increase peaked in July (6.3%) of the same year and is falling, it has maintained above 5% for the eighth month since May.
The expected inflation rate, which corresponds to the expected increase in consumer prices for the next year, is still high at the upper 3% range (3.8% in December 2022).
In his New Year's address, BOK Governor Lee Chang-yong also announced an additional base rate hike, saying, "Inflation, which is the most important factor in people's lives, is expected to continue rising above the target level, so this year's monetary policy will continue to focus on price stability." there is.