Lee Chang-yong, the Governor of the Bank of Korea, said at a press conference held after the Monetary Policy Committee on the 16th, "There is a possibility that the growth rate in the fourth quarter may fall below 0.2%," adding, "If that happens, the annual growth rate may also be lower than what the Bank of Korea has indicated."

The governor noted, "Even without other changes, if the fourth quarter growth rate is affected by the martial law situation and decreases, it will have a considerable impact on this year's growth rate due to base effects," and added, "Based on this, we made the decision to maintain the currency policy direction in this meeting."

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong is banging the gavel at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held at the Bank of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Nov. 16. /Courtesy of News1

He went on to say, "The Bank of Korea will announce its economic outlook for the new year in February, but as an unexpected situation of martial law has arisen, we plan to announce how to readjust the growth rate based on newly reviewed data early next week," and noted, "This announcement will be conducted as a mid-term review."

The Bank of Korea previously projected an annual growth rate of 2.2% in its revised economic outlook announced at the end of November last year. This figure was based on an anticipated growth rate of 0.5% for the fourth quarter, but as growth slowed further following the emergency martial law, a readjustment of the annual growth rate became inevitable.