South Korea policy interest rate
The Base Rate (기준금리) set by the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Board, the reference rate for BOK transactions with financial institutions and the economy-wide policy anchor.
| Current value | 2.75 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-07-16 |
| Official source | Bank of Korea Monetary Policy Board, Monetary Policy Decision of 16 July 2026 (Base Rate raised 25bp from 2.50% to 2.75%), under the Bank of Korea Act (한국은행법) |
| Last verified | 2026-07-20 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
Unanimous 25bp hike on 2026-07-16 — the first increase since January 2023, ending the 2024-25 easing cycle (2.50% had held since 2025-05-29). Board cited export/investment-led growth (2026 GDP projected 2.6%), inflation above the 2% target for an extended period (June 2026 CPI +3.2% y/y), household credit growth and won weakness, and signalled that policy 'needs to maintain a rate-hiking stance'. Decisions take effect from the decision date; the MPB holds 8 rate-setting meetings per year. Full change history cross-verified on the BOK Korean portal table (https://www.bok.or.kr/portal/singl/baseRate/list.do?dataSeCd=01&menuNo=200643 — loaded 2026-07-20); the English 'progress' page renders the table via script and returns no data to plain fetchers.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-01-02 | 1.5 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2018-11-30 | 1.75 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2019-07-18 | 1.5 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2019-10-16 | 1.25 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2020-03-17 | 0.75 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2020-05-28 | 0.5 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2021-08-26 | 0.75 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2021-11-25 | 1 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2022-01-14 | 1.25 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2022-04-14 | 1.5 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2022-05-26 | 1.75 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
| 2022-07-13 | 2.25 | Bank for International Settlements - Central Bank Policy Rat |
Get it programmatically
curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/policy-rate
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/policy-rate/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/kr/policy-rateOther South Korea series: VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates