SEOUL: South Korea’s central bank lowered its growth forecast for Asia’s fourth-largest economy on Tuesday, citing the country’s weak first-quarter economic performance and a downgrade in the global economic outlook. But it kept its policy rate steady for this month. Bank of Korea said that South Korea’s economy will likely expand 2.8 per cent this year over a year earlier, down from the three per cent expansion predicted in January, but an improvement from 2015 when South Korea’s economy eked out 2.6 per cent growth. The forecast reinforces worries the economy is on the cusp of a low-growth period. The bank revised its inflation outlook to 1.2 per cent from 1.4 per cent.