South Korea’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 3% on Thursday, with all seven board members voting to hold. The pause follows back-to-back quarter-point hikes in July and August that lifted the rate from 2.5%, the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) first consecutive increases in more than three years.

The board left the door open to more tightening. It saidgrowth remains strong, consumer prices are still rising close to 3% a year and financial risks persist, but added that rising uncertainty over the Middle East and over interest rate and government spending policies in the U.S. and other