The Bank of Korea Thursday said it would keep its key lending rate at 2 percent, in part to leave room for further reductions if needed later. It is highly likely that economic growth will sharply fall, BOK Gov.

South Korea's current account fell short in January due to a sharp decline in exports, the Bank of Korea said. The current account, which measures trade, service and investment transactions between South Korea and other markets, reached a $1.36 billion deficit in January, a sharp about face from December's surplus of $860.8 million, Yonhap reported Friday. The deficit has already impacted currency rates with the won hitting an 11-year low against the U.S.

International ratings service Moody's Investors Service Monday downgraded credit ratings for eight South Korean banks, hurt by lack of investments. The banks involved are the Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Export-Import Bank of Korea.

South Korea Sunday said it will provide $100 billion in state guarantees on banks' foreign debts in an effort to combat a dollar shortage in the country. The move is also aimed at bolstering confidence in South Korea's financial markets, Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported Sunday.

IBM Korea has completed The Industrial Bank of Korea's mainframe migration project to IBM System z10, to help the bank create an advanced IT environment as the foundation for its new enterprise data center. The agreement was signed in June 2008.