The Bank of Korea (BOK) has kept its key interest rate unchanged for a fifth straight month at an all-time low of one-point-five percent.
 
In the monetary policy statement, issued after the decision to freeze the key rate on Thursday, the central bank analyzed that that economic players’ sentiment on the domestic economic situation has improved somewhat, but that external economic factors have left the economic growth trend unpredictable and uncertain.
 
Noting a steady growth in domestic demand and investment and the decline in exports, the central bank predicted that the South Korean economy will remain on a recovery track, led by domestic consumption.
  
The BOK explained that housing prices and rental costs rose and the amount of housing debt borrowed from banks, including mortgage loans, has soared to exceed the level of previous years.
 
The central bank forecast that the global economy will maintain its recovery with the possibility of being affected by a growth slowdown in emerging markets and increased volatility in the international financial market due to a predicted shift in the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy.