Lee Ju-yeol: "No Major Difficulties Even If Base Rate Is Raised in November"

October 15 National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee Audit

Lee Ju-yeol, Governor of the Bank of Korea, attended the National Assembly's Public Administration and Finance Committee's audit of the Bank of Korea held on the 15th, reviewing documents. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Lee Ju-yeol, Governor of the Bank of Korea, indicated his intention to raise the base interest rate at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in November.

Governor Lee stated at the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee audit on the 15th, "I expect that raising the interest rate in November will not pose significant difficulties." He added, "If there are no major risks, we can fully consider raising the base interest rate in November."

He explained, "The decision to hold the rate steady in October was to observe recent financial market instability, increased volatility, global economic risk factors, and COVID-19 issues a bit more, rather than continuously raising the base interest rate."

Meanwhile, at the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee meeting in August, the base interest rate was raised by 0.25 percentage points from 0.5% to 0.75%, but it was held steady at 0.75% in October. The minority opinions in favor of a rate hike were from members Im Ji-won and Seo Young-kyung.