South Korea’s central bank has annoucned an emergency rate cut of 0.5 percentage point to help ease the economic fallout from the new coronavirus, which has sickened more than 8,200 people in the country. The Bank of Korea’s move today brought its policy rate to an all-time low of 0.75 percent amid concerns that the global spread of the virus will rattle South Korea’s trade-dependent economy. The bank says the rate cut will help ease volatility in financial markets and help pump money into the economy by lowering borrowing costs for companies. But some experts say it’s unclear whether lower interest rates will meaningfully boost economic activity that’s largely suppressed by preventive measures against the virus, which has influenced many to stay at home.-AP

Source: The Standard March 16, 2020 09:22 UTC