SBP to announce new monetary policy today

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is all set to announce its new monetary policy today (Monday) after a meeting of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), ARY News reported.

The MPC session will be chaired by State Bank of Pakistan governor Jameel Ahmed. This will be first meeting of MPC with Jameel Ahmed in the chair.

According to market experts, the policy rate will remain unchanged at 15% due to current economic situation of the country.

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September’s inflation reading prompted

this expectation of no change in the policy rate, with the consumer price index inflation (CPI) falling to 23.2 percent year-on-year from 27.3 percent in August. This decline was driven by a reduction in electricity charges.

The monetary policy will be announced via press release by the central bank after meeting.

It may be noted that the SBP has increased the rate by a cumulative 800 basis points in 11 months (September 2021 to July 2022) to 15%. The central bank maintained the rate in its previous monetary policy unveiled in August 2022.