The Bank of Korea(BOK) says it will continue its trend of raising the nation’s key interest rate in a bid to suppress the spread of inflation expectations and further increases in consumer prices.

The central bank revealed its stance in a document submitted on Friday to the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee ahead of the committee’s audit of the bank.

The BOK said it will decide on the scale and timing of the rate hikes after closely monitoring the monetary policies of key economies and the effect of global situations such as the Russia-Ukraine war on domestic consumer prices and growth trends as well as the local financial and foreign exchange markets.

The BOK has marked up the nation’s key interest rate seven times from zero-point-five percent to two-and-a-half percent since August of last year.

The bank also vowed to boost efforts to stabilize the foreign exchange market amid worsening market volatility, including continuing consultations with the U.S. Federal Reserve through various channels on re-signing a currency swap agreement.