East Asia Today

The BOK didn't change rates today, but laid out a much more positive view on the outlook than is being expressed by regional equities. One casualty of the equity sell-off is the TWD, which will further push up inflationary pressure in Taiwan. Also today, the BOJ's senior loan officer survey.

Paul Cavey

Oct 22, 2026 • 2 min read

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Korea – BOK confident

There was no change from the BOK today, and the decision to stay on hold was unanimous. That wasn't a surprise. However, the meeting was informative, with the clear takeaway being BOK confidence that this cycle will run through 2027.

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East Asia Today

A note reviewing developments in Korea ahead – just about – of the BOK meeting tomorrow. In addition, some charts showing the continuing gap between weak auto sales in China v strong car exports. That is affecting Japan, though overall exports there in USD terms rose again in September.

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Korea – the boom that hasn't happened

The BOK is unlikely to move tomorrow when it hiked twice recently, the KRW has finally firmed, and there is nervousness about the AI cycle. However, if those worries are just a wobble, then there's still much room for the semi surge to feed into domestic demand, and tomorrow will just be a pause.