Amid 'unforeseen developments', SBP mulls interest rate today

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet this afternoon to mull an upward revision of the country’s interest rate in light of “the recent unforeseen developments that have affected the outlook for inflation and balance of payments”.

The central bank decided on Nov 16 to move up the MPC meeting to Nov 19 (Friday) from the previously announced date of Nov 26.

“The meeting has been brought forward in light of recent unforeseen developments that have affected the outlook for inflation and the balance of payments,” a statement issued by the SBP read.

It added that the meeting has been convened earlier “to help reduce the uncertainty about monetary settings prevailing in the market”. “The MPC will take stock of these developments and decide about monetary policy.”

The SBP will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release after the meeting.

In the previous meeting on Sept 20, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had jacked up its policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 per cent.