Shin Hyun-sung, Governor of the Bank of Korea, announced that he has raised the economic growth forecasts for this year and next year. He also expects the consumer price inflation rate for next year to exceed the previous estimate of 2.5%.
During a comprehensive audit session of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee on the 23rd, Governor Shin responded to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-jun regarding the future direction of the base rate, stating, "We are estimating this year's and next year's growth rates to be higher than the projections made at the end of August."
He added, "We plan to announce new forecasts after the November Monetary Policy Committee meeting," and noted that due to strong growth, inflation next year is expected to be slightly higher than the 2.5% projected at the end of August.
On the previous day, the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee decided to maintain the base rate at 3.00% per annum. This decision follows two consecutive rate hikes in July and August, aimed at assessing the effects of the tightening measures.
During the audit session, questions also arose regarding the ultimate level of the interest rate hike cycle. Lawmaker Kim urged, "Rather than focusing on where the end point of the rate hike cycle is, please closely examine the ripple effects across various sectors of the economy given the strong growth."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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