Local economic experts expect the Bank of Korea (BOK) to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at its upcoming policy meeting later this week, with a possible rate hike at its next meeting, a survey showed Sunday. According to the survey on six economists conducted by Yonhap News Agency, all expected the BOK's Monetary Policy Board to hold the key rate steady at 3 percent at its meeting scheduled for Thursday. They said the central bank needs time to assess market conditions after raising the benchmark rate twice in a row in July and August. "Three consecutive rate hikes could place a significant burden on households and domestic companies," said Joo Won, a senior researcher at Hyundai Research Institute. "It is highly likely that the central bank will pause this time to assess the effects of previous rate hikes." Park Seok-gil, an economist at JPMorgan Korea, expected that the BOK will thoroughly look into economic indicators, given the changes in economic conditions over the past two months. He cited core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, falling to 2.8 per