The Bank of Korea(BOK) has decided to maintain its benchmark interest rate at three-point-five percent to deal with the economic slowdown.

In the central bank’s rate-setting monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, the BOK decided to freeze the key rate for the second straight time after declining to raise the rate in February.

The recent slowdown in the pace of price increases appears to have led to the rate freeze, with the inflation rate coming in at four-point-two percent in March, the lowest on-year growth in 12 months.

Tuesday's freeze also came amid growing concerns over an economic slump based on negative economic indicators.

The economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year for the first time in two and a half years, and the current account posted a deficit for two straight months in January and February for the first time in about eleven years.