South Korea cuts interest rate for second time in 3 months

South Korea's central bank cut interest rates for the second time in three months on Wednesday, in a further effort to boost an economy struggling with weakening demand at home and abroad.

The Bank of Korea (BOK), which has come under government pressure to help inject some pace into the country's slow economic recovery, cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 2.0 percent.
It followed a similar cut in August that ended a 15-month interest rate freeze.
The 2.0 percent rate matches a record low last seen from February 2009 through June 2010 when  Asia's fourth-largest economy was seeking to recover from the global financial crisis.
The latest cut came before the BOK was due to announce its economic outlook, which analysts expect will see a downward revision of its growth forecast for 2014.
South Korea unveiled a 41 trillion won ($40 billion) stimulus package in July when Finance Minister Choi Kyung-Hwan warned of a risk of recession after the economy grew at its slowest rate for more than a year in the second quarter.
The stimulus includes 11.7 trillion won in expanded fiscal spending and 29 trillion won in extra financing support.
The lion's share will be spent in the remainder of this year, with 3.0 trillion won earmarked for the beginning of 2015.