Anchor: The Bank of Korea(BOK) raised its prediction for the growth of the South Korean economy to two-point-eight percent this year. It’s the first time in seven years that the central bank has upgraded the economic growth rate twice in one year.
Alannah Hill has more.
 
Report: The Bank of Korea(BOK) is expecting that the South Korean economy will grow two-point-eight percent, up zero-point-two percentage points from its previous outlook.
 
Following the monetary policy committee meeting on Thursday, BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol held a news conference to present the upbeat growth forecast for this year. 
 
Citing a significant increase in exports, the governor predicted that the Korean economy will withstand trade and geopolitical uncertainties and stay on a sound growth track. 
 
He hinted the yearly gross domestic product growth could be greater, noting that the growth figure does not reflect the impact of the supplementary budget the government is seeking to launch.
 
The revision comes three months after the BOK’s previous zero-point-one percent raise in April. This marks the first time since 2010 that the central bank has upgraded the economic growth rate twice in one year.
 
Meanwhile, central bank decided to keep this month’s benchmark interest rate at one-point-25 percent.
 
The South Korean central bank has kept the rate steady at the record low level for 13 months since slashing it by a quarter of a percentage point to the current level in June of last year. The BOK governor said that the Korean economy is not facing inflationary concerns but the bank is now under pressure to raise the rate above the lending cost in the U.S. 
 
The U.S. Fed increased key interest rates by point-25 percentage point in June, setting the target range for the federal funds rate to one to one-point-25 percent.
Alannah Hill, KBS World Radio News.