By IANS,
Seoul : Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea’s central bank, Thursday cut its 2013 growth outlook to 2.6 percent from an earlier forecast of 2.8 percent.
The downgrade came after the finance minister slashed its 2013 growth forecast from 3 percent to 2.3 percent in late March, reported Xinhua.
The BOK froze its benchmark interest rate at 2.75 percent despite the unprecedented government pressure to cut rates to revitalize the sluggish economy in the early period of new presidency under President Park Geun-hye.
The finance ministry was scheduled to unveil its supplementary budget, estimated at around 10 trillion won ($9 billion) next week.
The central bank lowered its 2013 inflation outlook to 2.3 percent from an earlier estimate of 2.5 percent.