, Columnist
One of the World’s Most Stubborn Central Banks Gives In
South Korea’s surprise rate cut is welcome, but the economy needs deeper changes to crawl out of this slump.
A rate cut won’t solve his problems.
Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAThis article is for subscribers only.
Asia’s most stubborn central bank just reversed course.
With the Federal Reserve all but certain to renew its easing cycle at the end of the month, the Bank of Korea preemptively cut its benchmark interest rate to 1.5% from 1.75%, in a decision that surprised roughly half of the economists polled by Bloomberg.