SBP announces monetary policy, keeps interest rate unchanged

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday announced the monetary policy for the next two months and kept the rate of interest unchanged at 5.75 percent as the market experts had predicted.

Governor State Bank of Pakistan Ashraf Mahmood Wathra while announcing the policy at the SBP’s headquarters said that there was immense pressure on national and international economic indicators.

He said that there was an increase in loans issued to the private and agriculture sector, while the power sector has registered increase in electricity generation and increased output in other large industries.

He said that the economic activities in the country have boosted due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The central bank governor also said that the hike in global oil prices will not affect the economy of Pakistan.

He said that the lack of coalition support funds and decline in remittances has widen the current account deficit of the country to 3.6 billion dollars.

Economic experts, talking with ARY News, had earlier said that no change expected in the interest rate due to price hike, trade deficit and deficit in current accounts.  In the past two years, the SBP has decreased the interest rate from 9% to current 5.7 percent.