Karachi: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan is scheduled to meet today (Monday) to decide on the monetary policy for the next seven weeks.
According to SBP’s statement, the monetary policy statement will also be announced today.
Currently, the key interest rate in Pakistan is 15%.
In its last meeting on July 7, the MPC increased the interest rate by 125 basis points (bps) to reach 15%.
In a press conference after the meeting, the central bank’s Acting Governor, Dr Murtaza Syed, said the most important objective behind the move was to control spiralling inflation.
He attributed the rise in inflation to global reasons, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and domestic developments, including a “very high economic growth”.
Syed said that while a high economic growth rate was usually a good development, Pakistan’s economy was structured in a way that it would start facing problems if the rate was six per cent for two years in a row.
This time, however, the financial pundits and market players have developed a consensus that the central bank will maintain the rate at the current level of 15% for the next seven weeks.
Since July 27 2021, the key policy rate has been increased by 800 basis points to reach 15% from 7% in a bid to control spiralling inflation.
Read: Federal Reserve hikes key interest rate by 0.75% points
