South Korea's central bank has made a surprising decision to lower its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3%. This move is aimed at boosting the country's sluggish economy, which experienced weaker-than-expected GDP growth of 1.5% year-on-year in the third quarter.

The Bank of Korea has revised its GDP growth forecast for 2024 down to 2.2% from 2.4%, and for 2025, the outlook has been adjusted to 1.9% from 2.1%. The inflation rate has also dropped significantly, with October's figure recorded at 1.3%, the lowest since February 2021.

Following the announcement, the Kospi stock index saw a slight increase of 0.18%, while the South Korean won depreciated by 0.37% against the U.S. dollar, trading at 1,393.82.