The Bank of Korea will meet on June 10 to decide interest rates as policy makers try to tame inflation without damping an economic recovery.

Korea’s inflation climbed 4.1 percent from a year earlier in May, exceeding the central bank’s target for a fifth straight month and adding to the case for an increase in interest rates even as export and output growth cools. Exports last month advanced 23.5 percent, less than estimated.

Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong Soo and his policy board kept rates unchanged at 3 percent at their last meeting on May 13 after increases in January and March. Government-run think tank Korea Development Institute on May 22 urged the central bank to raise interest rates more aggressively to tackle inflation.

The central bank will also release revisions to the first- quarter gross domestic product numbers on June 8. Gross domestic product rose 1.4 percent in the January-March period after advancing 0.5 percent in the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said on April 27. 

(Bloomberg)