There are growing voices within the Bank of Korea calling for a rate hike in August, with a 0.25 percentage point increase emerging as the most likely option.

Recent financial market outlooks in South Korea suggest a shift towards the possibility of raising the benchmark interest rate. Following a rate increase in July, the economy's strong performance and the country's growing exports have fueled this change. Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee is set to meet on August 27th to discuss the monetary policy direction.

If the rate is raised again, the benchmark rate would rise from 2.75% to 3.00%. This is an unprecedented occurrence since 2022's April and May. Experts believe that the growing real economy will prompt the Bank of Korea to consider an earlier increase. Notably, exports have continued to rise, and domestic indicators also show improvement.

In contrast, the US Federal Reserve maintains interest rates higher by 0.75∼1% points. The Korean benchmark rate is still lower than the US rate. Many analysts predict that the Bank of Korea will continue to raise rates in August.