SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s central bank has lowered its key interest rate to a record low as it tries to bolster a fragile economic recovery.

The Bank of Korea said Wednesday it trimmed the key rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2 percent. It was the second rate cut this year after the central bank lowered lending costs in August.

Analysts had expected another rate cut as South Korea’s finance minister continued to say the recovery in Asia’s fourth-largest economy was fragile. The weak yen and a slow recovery of capital spending were also expected to dent the recovery of the export-driven economy.

In February 2009, the bank lowered its policy interest rate to 2 percent in the wake of the global financial crisis.

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