Bank of Korea (BOK) raised its 2025 growth forecast to 2 percent on Thursday, buoyed by an unexpectedly strong outlook for semiconductor exports. It held the key rate steady at 2.5 percent in a sixth consecutive freeze. BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong said the upward revision from 1.8 percent projected in November of last year reflects the economy’s increasing reliance on chips and select IT manufacturing sectors amid an extended downturn in construction and other non-IT sectors. He added that the recent strengthening of the Korean currency against the U.S. dollar to the 1,420-won range is “not yet a level where we can feel complacent.” “The main factor in the revision was faster-than-projected growth in the country’s exports and capital spending, underpinned by a favorable semiconductor cycle and steady global economic growth,” Rhee said during a press conference at the bank headquarters in Seoul. The rosy outlook is powered further by improved corporate earnings supporting consumption, but significantly offset by a slowdown in construction investment. In 2025, semiconductor-dr