Interest rates cut in South Korea due to MERS outbreak

As new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) continue to pop up in South Korea, the country's central bank cut its policy rate Thursday by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.50 percent.

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said "we decided to cut rates today in a pre-emptive move to contain the economic fallout from MERS" on the same day 14 more cases were confirmed by authorities. Since a 68-year-old businessman brought MERS back to South Korea after a trip to Saudi Arabia, 122 cases have been reported and nine people have died, Reuters reports. All of the cases have been traced back to the original patient.

Schools are closing and trips to the country are being canceled due to fears of the illness, resulting in a weakened economy, and leaders like Kim Moo-sung of the Saenuri party are asking that South Koreans "put behind us excessive fear and psychological withdrawal over MERS and try to go back to normal daily lives next week so we can minimize the impact on the economy." MERS is more deadly but not as contagious as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 800 people around the world from 2002 to 2003 and is caused by a coronavirus from the same family.

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