1st LD: S.Korea's central bank raises interest rate to 1.75 pct

Source: Xinhua | 2018-11-30

South Korea's central bank on Friday raised the benchmark interest rate for the first time in 12 months.
Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other monetary policy board members decided to lift the seven-day repurchase rate to 1.75 percent from 1.50 percent.
It marked the first rate increase since the BOK hiked its target rate to 1.50 percent in November last year from an all-time low of 1.25 percent.
The rate hike was in line with market expectations. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association survey of 200 fixed-income experts, 79 percent predicted a rate increase.