With the U.S. Federal Reserve deciding to begin tapering its bond purchases, the Bank of Korea(BOK) will likely further raise its interest rate.

The BOK beat the Fed by hiking its rate zero-point-25 percent in August, the country’s first mid-pandemic rate hike.

Another rise of the same amount is expected in November. After one more hike of zero-point-25 percent, the interest rate is predicted to hit one-point-25 percent by January.

Following that, the BOK is expected to act in accordance with any possible Fed rate hikes. Government officials believe the Fed’s decision will ultimately have a limited impact on local markets.

On Wednesday, the Fed announced that "later this month" it will begin to slow down its monthly bond purchases, the first step toward pulling back on its 120-billion-dollars-a-month buying introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.