SEOUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank held interest rates steady for a fifth straight meeting on Thursday, in line with market expectations, as inflation continues to ease and household debt remains high.

The Bank of Korea's (BOK) seven-member monetary policy board voted to keep its policy rate unchanged at 3.50%, as it did at its meetings in February, April, May and July.

The decision matched the forecast of 43 economists in a Reuters survey, which also projected the central bank to stay on hold until the end of this year, before delivering a rate cut in the first quarter of 2024.

The BOK started its post-pandemic monetary tightening cycle in August 2021, well before the world's other major central banks, and had raised interest rates by a total of 300 basis points over a 1-1/2-year period through to January this year. (Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Joyce Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)