SBP to announce monetary policy today

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will announce the new monetary policy today, an announcement by the central bank said on Monday.

The base interest rate for the next two months will be decided in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today. The MPC is scheduled to meet at 10:30 AM today at the SBP.

The Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad will decide the interest rate, and then issue a press release post-meeting, the announcement said.

Currently, the base interest rate is 12 per cent, which was kept stable in the previous meeting on March 10.

From 22 per cent in June 2024, the central bank has brought down interest rates to 12 per cent in January 2025, which was then kept unchanged in March 2025. While some market analysts are predicting a further decline in the policy rate, other economic corners of the country are mulling whether a further decline is even advisable at this point.

The inflation has certainly plummeted from a whopping 38 per cent last year to a mere 1.5 per cent in February 2025 and historic low of 0.3 per cent in April 2025. However, the issue remains that without the corresponding improvement in other macroeconomic indicators, the inflation alone cannot be the sole factor dictating the interest rates.

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