SBP to unveil monetary policy on July 29

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will announce Monetary Policy on July 29 in a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

The MPC will meet on Monday, July 29 to decide about the Monetary Policy, a press release issued by SBP said.

Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad will announce the Monetary Policy decision at a press conference on the same day after the MPC meeting, it added.

In the last monetary policy announcement, the State Bank of Pakistan cut the interest rate by 150 basis points (bps) to 20.5 per cent.

In a statement, the SBP said the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had reviewed the current economic developments.

The committee noted that “underlying inflationary pressures are also subsiding amidst tight monetary policy stance, supported by fiscal consolidation”.

At the same time, the MPC highlighted “some upside risks to the near-term inflation outlook associated with the upcoming budgetary measures and uncertainty regarding future energy price adjustments”.

“Second, reduction in the current account deficit has helped improve the foreign exchange (FX) reserves to around $9 billion despite large debt repayments and weak official inflows,” it added.