Bank of Korea raises interest rates by 25 bps, as expected

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points on Friday, making a widely expected move that many economists also predicted would mark the end of a tightening cycle that began in 2021.

The Bank of Korea said its seven-member monetary policy board had decided to raise its policy interest rate to 3.50%, the highest since December 2008. It did not elaborate on the decision.

The rise matched a prediction by 36 out of 40 economists in a Reuters poll, in which the remaining four had expected the central bank to hold the rate steady at 3.25%.

Friday's decision marked the 10th interest rate rise since the current tightening cycle began in August 2021 and brought the total amount of increase to 300 basis points.

(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo and Jihoon Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)