SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank on Friday froze its benchmark interest rate at a record low to see the effect of policy rate cut in the previous month.

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other policy board members decided to leave the benchmark 7-day repurchase rate unchanged at 1.25 percent.

The central bankers slashed the target rate by 25 basis points to the current record-low level in October, just three months after lowering it from 1.75 percent and 1.50 percent in July.

It was in line with market expectations. According to a Korea Financial Investment Association (FKIA) survey of 200 fixed-income experts, 99 percent predicted a rate on hold this month.

Despite lingering external uncertainties such as the global trade dispute and the semiconductor industry's downturn, the BOK refrained from altering the policy rate to wait and see the effect of rate cuts for the past months.

Amid the external uncertainties, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its 2019 growth outlook for the South Korean economy to 2.0 percent early October from 2.6 percent estimated six months earlier.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) downgraded this year's growth forecast for the economy from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent in September.

South Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, added 0.4 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, after expanding 1.0 percent in the second quarter.

Export, which accounts for around half of the export-driven economy, dropped 14.7 percent in October from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for 11 straight months since December last year.

Uncertainty remained over the ongoing Seoul-Tokyo trade spat. Japan imposed export curbs on South Korea in July by tightening control over its export to South Korea of three materials, vital to produce memory chips and display panels that are the mainstay of the South Korean export.

In August, Japan dropped South Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential export procedure. In response, Seoul removed Tokyo from its whitelist of trusted export partners.

South Korea decided in August to terminate its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, called General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), as Japan said it imposed the export restrictions for security reasons.

However, the presidential Blue House of South Korea announced its decision last Friday to suspend the termination of the GSOMIA as long as trade talks with Japan go on normally.

The two countries took a first step toward resolving the trade issue, agreeing to hold director general-level dialogue in Tokyo next month to discuss issues relevant to the whitelisting and export restrictions.

On the domestic front, economic indicators showed a mixed picture. Production in the mining and manufacturing industry gained 2.0 percent in September from a month earlier, but output in the services sector reduced 1.2 percent in the month.

Facility investment continued an upward trend for four months through September, but completed construction fell 2.7 percent amid the government's measures to control speculative investment in the property market.

In October, passenger car sale rose 1.1 percent compared with a year earlier, continuing to grow for two months in a row. Both online shopping and credit card spending increased in the month, although revenue by offline retailers reduced amid a rapid change into the consumption pattern using smartphone apps.

Sentiment among local consumers over economic situations improved last month, while the number of jobs created in October increased 419,000 from a year earlier. Enditem

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