The Bank of Korea(BOK) has lowered its economic growth outlook for this year from two-point-eight percent back in October last year to two-point-five percent.
 
BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol announced the adjustment at a news conference on Friday shortly after the central bank’s monetary policy committee decided to retain the key interest rate at one-point-25 percent for the seventh straight month.
 
The downward revision is attributed to hurdles at home and abroad, such as sluggish consumer sentiment, political instability amid the Choi Soon-sil scandal, a predicted interest hike in the U.S. and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s uncertain economic policy directions.
 
The BOK chief said despite depressed economic sentiment and stagnant domestic consumption, the South Korean economy will remain on a moderate growth track thanks to an improvement in exports on the back of a global economic recovery.
 
The central bank’s outlook is lower than the government’s prediction of two-point-six percent growth. But it is still higher than those presented by key state-run and private economic think tanks, which range between two-point-one percent to two-point-four percent.