The Bank of Korea(BOK) has kept its key interest rate at a record low of point-five percent. 

The central bank's monetary policy board announced the decision on Thursday, leaving the key rate frozen for the ninth consecutive time. 

The BOK slashed its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to point-75 percent in March of last year before cutting it by another quarter of a percentage point two months later.

In a statement, the board cited uncertainties amid a resurgence in the spread of COVID-19 despite a sustained recovery in the domestic economy and an expected uptrend in prices for the time being. 

BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol last month hinted at "normalizing" the benchmark rate within the year, but the monetary policy board apparently assessed that it is too soon to hike the rate.