South Korea's base rate stood at 3% in October ahead of the next rate-setting meeting on Nov. 26, according to the Bank of Korea's Economic Statistics System.
The central bank held the rate on Oct. 22 after raising it at each of its previous two meetings. That left the rate half a percentage point above the level set in May.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in October from a year earlier, down from 2.9% in September, Statistics Korea figures available through the central bank's statistics system showed. The annual inflation rate fell by 0.1 percentage point.
The US federal funds target range stood at 3.75% to 4% as of Nov. 5. Its upper bound exceeded the Korean base rate by 1 percentage point, providing a comparison ahead of the Korean decision.
Short-term Korean market pricing implied a quarter-point increase over the period covered by a 91-day monetary stabilisation bond, a debt security issued by the central bank. That market-implied reading is not a forecast of the decision.
The bond yielded about 3.18% on Nov. 6, roughly 18 basis points above the base rate. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point, making a quarter-point rate change equivalent to 25 basis points.
The market-implied calculation assigned a 100% probability to a 25-basis-point increase and zero to either a hold or a quarter-point cut. It covered the full 91-day window and averaged across one meeting.
That calculation describes the outcome implied by the quoted market rate over that window. It does not constitute a commitment by the Monetary Policy Board, which next sets the base rate on Nov. 26.
The Korea Overnight Financing Repo rate — repo is short for repurchase agreement — stood at about 3.03% in the supplied short-term market figures. It was closer to the 3% base rate than the yield on the 91-day monetary stabilisation bond.
The recent decision sequence began with a hold at 2.5% on May 28. The central bank then raised the rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% on July 16.
It followed with another 25-basis-point increase on Aug. 27, taking the rate to 3%. The Oct. 22 hold kept that level in place, matching the October observation in the central bank's statistics system.
The two increases together added 50 basis points to the base rate between May and August. The November meeting follows the October pause, with annual consumer price inflation lower in October than in September.
