(Adds BOK member's quote, details of meeting)
SEOUL, March 14 (Reuters) - A big majority of the Bank
of Korea's board members voted to hold interest rates steady at
the Feb. 23 meeting but agreed it was premature to declare an
end to its tightening campaign, meeting minutes showed on
Tuesday.
Four of the five board members who voted to keep the policy
rate unchanged said it should leave the door open for further
rate increases if needed to contain inflation, whereas the fifth
member saw no need for further tightening.
"We should leave the chances open for further increases (in
the policy rate) if needed on the basis of development in the
domestic and global economic conditions going forward," one
member, who was not named, said at the meeting.
Governor Rhee Chang-young already disclosed at that time
that the sixth member, Cho Yoon-je, dissented and voted for an
increase of the policy rate by 25 basis points.
The minutes contained comments by six of the seven board
members as the other member, Governor Rhee, does not vote when
there is a majority formed without him.
The Bank of Korea had raised the policy rate by 300 basis
points since August 2021 from record-low 0.50% to contain
inflation but investors have bet the tightening was over as the
economy, Asia's fourth-largest economy, is on the brink of
falling into a recession and inflation pressure is easing.
Details of the Feb. 23 policy meeting were released as
investors were reducing their bets on further tightening of
global interest rates as financial markets were hit hard by
fears of a U.S. banking sector crisis.
(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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