ⓒYONHAP News

The Bank of Korea raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday in a move to contain rising inflationary pressure.

The central bank's monetary policy board convened a rate-setting meeting and decided to raise the policy rate from one-point-25 percent to one-point-five percent.

Including the latest hike, the central bank has carried out four rate hikes since August last year, amounting to a combined one percentage point.

In February, the bank froze the policy rate at one-point-25 percent.

With the governor post temporarily unoccupied and despite downside risks from the war in Ukraine, the central bank raised the key rate in an apparent move to tackle growing inflationary pressure.

In March, consumer prices soared four-point-one percent on-year, the steepest gain in more than ten years.