SEOUL, July 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank revised down this year's growth forecast for the economy by 0.3 percentage points to 2.2 percent.
The downward revision came after the Bank of Korea (BOK) unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.50 percent.
The BOK's forecast was gloomier than the government's estimate. Earlier this month, the finance ministry lowered this year's growth outlook by 0.2 percentage points to a range of 2.4-2.5 percent, citing external uncertainties.
Outlook for headline inflation was downgraded to 0.7 percent from 1.1 percent estimated three months earlier.
Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol told a press conference after the rate-setting meeting that growth potential for the economy went down to a range of 2.5-2.6 percent.
Lee noted that the rate-cut decision was not made unanimously as one of the seven policy board members objected to it.
