Bank of Korea Leaves Interest Rate Unchanged at 5% (Update5)

Bank of Korean Peninsula Governor kept involvement rates unchanged today and said economical growth
may decelerate ''significantly'' and rising prices moderate, fueling
speculation he will cut adoption costs this year.

Lee and his board left the at 5
percent in Capital Of South Korea today, as prognosis by all 18 economic experts in a
Bloomberg News survey. The depository financial institution last adjusted rates in July and
August 2007, with sequent quarter-point increases.

The determination come ups a twenty-four hours after Japanese Islands and Kingdom Of Thailand held
borrowing costs steady as Asiatic cardinal bankers balance risks
from the planetary lag against billowy nutrient and energy prices. The economic system may acquire a encouragement from President 's
victory in a legislative election yesterday, giving him range to
push through programs to stoke domestic demand as exportations slow.

''It's similar Spike Lee is telling the marketplace to set up for a rate
cut, which is only a substance of time,'' said , a
senior economic expert at scandium First Depository Financial Institution Korean Peninsula Ltd. ''The cardinal bank
seems to have got shifted its focusing to the economic system from inflation.''

The rose 0.3 percentage to 1,759.24 at
12:43 p.m. inch Seoul, reversing an earlier decline. The output on
the five-year government chemical bond drop 5 footing points to 5 percent. The South Korean won was small changed at 975.87 against the U.S. dollar.

South Korea's have been stoked
by increased cargoes abroad, which are like to 40
percent of gross domestic product. Slowing planetary growing may
cool demand for 's mobile telephones and
Hyundai Motor Co.'s cars.

'Slow Significantly'

''External statuses are deteriorating sharply,'' Spike Lee said. ''Economic growing may decelerate significantly more than than forecast.''

The International Monetary Fund estimated a 25 percent
chance of a worldwide recession in its biannual outlook
released yesterday. Thecut its planetary growing prognosis to
3.7 percentage this twelvemonth from a 4.1 percentage anticipation in January.

Recent South Korean studies have got shown amalgamated marks of the
economy's strength. Consumer assurance drop to a one-year low
in March and retail-sales growth eased in February.

Still, accelerated in March as Chinese demand
compensated for moderating gross sales to the U.S. Factory production
declined for a 2nd calendar month in February, a mark South Korean
companies may be preparing for a slowdown.

Ten of 18 economic experts surveyed by Bloomberg forecast
an interest-rate decrease by the end of June.

Inflation Pressures

''Inflation concerns may be adequate to maintain rates on hold
this calendar month and adjacent but, with the growing mentality fading, a pre-
emptive cut in rates is not far off,'' said , an
economist at London-based Capital Economics Ltd.

Soaring costs for nutrient and energy have got stoked inflation
across Asia, creating a quandary for policy shapers seeking to
shore up economical enlargements as the region's exportation gross sales wane.

The Depository Financial Institution of Japanese Islands left its involvement charge per unit unchanged at 0.5
percent yesterday and Thailand's cardinal depository financial institution held its benchmark
at 3.25 percent. Last week, Indonesia's policy shapers kept their
key charge per unit at 8 percent.

Crude oil soared to a record $112.21 a gun barrel yesterday,
while terms of nutrient basics including rice and corn have
surged amid increased demand and higher combustible and cargo costs.

South Korea's jumped 3.9 percentage in March
from a twelvemonth earlier, the fastest gait in three years. The rate
exceeded the cardinal bank's mark scope of 2.5 percentage to 3.5
percent for a 5th sequent month.

Inflation may chair back to within the mark range
''around the end of the year,'' if raw-material terms don't
rise further, Governor Spike Lee said today.

Meantime, President Lee's triumph with a bulk win by
his Thousand National Party in yesterday's legislative election
will assist give him the weight he necessitates to force through programs to
boost economical growth.

Lee, who won a landslide triumph in December on a pledge to
increase foreign investment, cut corporate taxations and deregulate
business, needed a bulk to ordain those changes.

To reach the newsman on this story:
in Capital Of South Korea at
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