SBP to announce bi-monthly new monetary policy tomorrow

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would announce its decision with regard to its monetary policy for coming two months on Thursday (tomorrow), the bank announced in a statement.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank will meet tomorrow in Islamabad. After the meeting SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa will unveil the Monetary Policy in a press conference in the capital city.

Some economic analysts expect further 50 to 100 basis points hike in interest rate by the central bank at its bi-monthly interest rate policy review meeting.

Other experts, however, advise against the increase in interest rate insisting to leave the rate unchanged.

The bank had hiked the monetary policy rate by 150 basis points in November last year to 10 percent.

The State Bank has hiked the interest rate by overall 4.25 percent since January in previous year.

However, a majority of respondents in recent survey of bankers and brokers indicated that SBP was likely to keep the policy rate unchanged in its upcoming monetary policy this month.

Pakistan’s central bank announce its policy on the interest rate after every two months in view of the state of the national economy.

The bank’s policy rate, entails managing liquidity in the money market with the objective to keep the short-term interest rates stable and aligned with its policy.