Karachi: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will meet today at SBP Karachi to decide the key policy rate for the next month and a half.
According to the SBP, the Committee will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release as well.
The Monetary Policy Committee of #SBP will meet on Monday, October 10, 2022 at SBP Karachi and will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release on the same day.
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) October 7, 2022
In its last meeting on August 22, the MPC decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 15%.
“With recent inflation developments in line with expectations, domestic demand beginning to moderate, and the external position showing some improvement due to a lower trade deficit and resumption of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) program, the MPC felt that it was prudent to take a pause at this stage,” the MPC had said after the meeting.
This time as well, as many analysts believe, the Committee could keep the policy rate unchanged considering a fall in inflation reading to 23.2% in September compared to a 47-year high of 27.3% in the prior month.
Compared to the last meeting, this time there is a new Finance Minister, who is following his old recipe of running a controlled economy, and will like to see an easy monetary policy and a new Governor of the State Bank.
It is important to know that since September 2021, the SBP has increased the rate by a cumulative 800 basis points to hit 15%.
