South Korea's central bank on Thursday revised down its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.6 percent from its earlier estimate of 2.8 percent amid the global slowdown.

The Bank of Korea (BOK)'s revised numbers are higher than the government's recent growth estimate of 2.3 percent for this year.

The government of President Park Geun-hye sharply cut its 2013 growth projection from an earlier 3 percent in March, vowing to implement strong stimulus measures including creation of an extra budget.

By taking into account eased demand-pull inflationary pressure, the BOK also lowered its 2013 consumer inflation forecast to 2.3 percent from an earlier projection of 2.5 percent.

Despite the growth downgrade, the BOK froze the key interest rate at 2.75 percent for the sixth straight month in April, indicating that the growth path is not likely to deviate much from the central bank's earlier projection.

Ahead of the April policy meeting, the government had put pressure on the BOK to join its stimulus drive. The bank slashed the key rate in July and October 2012 to prop up the economic growth. (Yonhap News)