Bank of Korea to cut interest rates by 25 basis points this week

Twenty of the 28 economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predicted the Bank of Korea would cut rates by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent at its meeting on Friday, while the remaining eight expected the central bank to delay the cut until November. "With inflation below target and activity data pointing to a further slowdown, we expect the Bank of Korea to initiate an easing cycle at its scheduled monetary policy meeting [on October 11]," Capital Economics economists wrote in a note. Overall inflation slowed to a 43-month low of 1.6 per cent in September.