Third straight hike: At its May meeting, the Central Bank decided to hike the cash rate from 4.10% to 4.35%,...
BOK Base Rate in Korea
South Korea's central bank policy rate declined from 2014 to 2020 in order to stimulate growth and inflation. Post-pandemic, there was a gradual shift towards higher interest rates in order to tame above-target price pressures, before another easing cycle began in 2024.
The bok base rate ended 2024 at 3.00%, compared to the end-2023 value of 3.50% and the figure a decade earlier of 2.00%. It averaged 1.86% over the last decade. For more interest rate information, visit our dedicated page.
Korea Interest Rate Chart
Note: This chart displays Policy Interest Rate (%) for Korea from 2014 to 2025.
Source: Macrobond.
Korea Interest Rate Data
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOK Base Rate (%, eop) | 1.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.00 | 2.50 |
| 3-Month KORIBOR (%, eop) | 1.41 | 4.04 | 3.88 | 3.36 | 2.68 |
| 10-Year Bond Yield (%, eop) | 2.25 | 3.73 | 3.18 | 2.86 | 3.08 |
Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, UOB’s Ho Woei Chen stated: “Barring inflation expectations becoming more entrenched, we think the BOK will likely look past the immediate supply-led inflation as it weighs the negative growth impact from the supply disruptions. Thus, we maintain our forecast for BOK rate hold at 2.50% through 2026.”
Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Korean interest rate projections for the next ten years from a panel of 22 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable interest rate forecast available for Korean interest rate.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Korean interest rate projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Korean interest rate forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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