Off the wire
• Chinese visitors boost New Zealand accommodation sector  • FLASH: S.KOREA CUTS INTEREST RATE BY 25 BASIS POINTS TO 1.5 PERCENT  • Urgent: S.Korea cuts interest rate to all-time of 1.5 percent  • Australian man defends his actions fighting against Islamic State  • Dollar changes hands at upper 122 yen level in early Tokyo deals  • Seoul shares open higher  • Tokyo shares open higher following U.S. gains  • News analysis: Loew demands quick solutions: Six players looking for a new club  • Australian dollar trades slightly down  • Australians' daily fruit, vegetables intake woefully insufficient  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: S.Korea cuts interest rate to 1.5 pct on MERS woes

Xinhua, June 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea's central bank, cut its policy rate Thursday to an all-time low of 1. 5 percent on concerns that the unabated spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) may erode the already lackluster economy.

BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other members of the monetary policy board decided to lower the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.5 percent. The bank cut it below 2 percent in March for the first time in history after lowering it by 25 basis points in August and October last year.

The unexpected decision came as MERS infections increased to 122 on Thursday after 14 more cases were added. Consumers refrained from going outside for shopping, and many of social and political gatherings were canceled.

President Park Geun-hye ordered economy-related ministries Tuesday to take all available measures to proactively minimize the MERS effect on the economy. Park decided Wednesday to postpone her planned visit to the United States next week to focus on containing the MERS spread. Endi