The South Korean central bank has lowered its economic growth outlook for this year from three-point-two to three percent.
 
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol announced the adjustment in a news conference on Thursday, shortly after the central bank decided to keep its key interest rate unchanged at one-point-five percent for the seventh straight month.
 
Lee said the central bank made the decision after taking into account recent economic conditions at home and abroad, such as an unstable foreign exchange market in China, falling international oil prices, tumbling stock prices and a rising won-dollar rate.
 
The Bank of Korea’s economic growth outlook is zero-point-one percentage points lower than the government’s three-point-one percent prediction.
 
However, it is still higher than those presented by civilian economic think tanks, which range between two-point-five and two-point-eight percent.
 
In addition, the Bank of Korea predicted that consumer prices will grow one-point-four percent this year, down zero-point-three percentage points from its initial forecast at one-point-seven percent.