BOK rate decision meeting starts around 9 am local time on Wednesday

July 11 Reuters South Korea39;s central bank will deliver its firstever 50 basis point rate rise to 2.25 on Wednesday, turning up the heat on a ratehiking campaign as inflation tops a 24year high and has yet to peak, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.

One of the first central banks to start raising rates, in August 2021, the Bank of Korea is still grappling with inflation, which reached 6.0 in June, the highest since November 1998 when an Asian financial crisis was in full swing.

To arrest further price rises and cushion a falling currency, 27 of 32 economists in a July 48 Reuters poll expected the BoK to go for an unprecedented halfpoint hike on July 13. Only five expected a quarterpoint hike.

The BoK is one of many central banks now feeling the pressure from an aggressive interest rate hiking campaign from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which has driven the U.S. dollar to a twodecade high.

The Korean won has been one of the worst performers in emerging markets this year, tumbling more than 8.5 and set to fall further.

Krystal Tan, economist at ANZ, reckons that inflation has yet to peak as energy costs, which the central bank can39;t control, keep rising and pass through to consumer prices.

A hawkish U.S. Fed, at a time when South Korea39;s balance of payments position is under pressure, also supports the case for more aggressive tightening, said Tan, who is going for a 50 basis point move on…