The Bank of Korea has cut its growth and inflation forecasts for 2015
- But didn’t change monetary policy today
In a press conference BoK Governor Lee Ju-Yeol released new forecasts:
- 2015 GDP growth at 3.4%, a half-point cut
- 2015 consumer price inflation at 1.9%, also a half-point cut
The BoK’s statement:
- Export growth has slowed somewhat [and] the Committee judges that the recovery of domestic demand has not been strong and the sentiments of economic agents remain weak… the domestic economy will show a modest trend of recovery going forward, but that the negative output gap will persist for a considerable time
- Although the trend of a solid economic recovery in the US has been sustained, the sluggishness of economic activities in the euro area has continued while economic growth in emerging market countries such as China has slowed somewhat
- The BoK has an inflation target of between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent
- In December the actual reading was 0.8 per cent, the lowest in 15 years
