KARACHI – State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to meet today on Thursday to announce its monetary policy, with people familiar with the development predicting a hike in the key policy rate.
Financial experts and brokerage firms predicted a rate hike as high as 200 basis points in the key policy rate in the wake of inflationary pressure with the risk of 12-month real interest rates (RIR) remaining in negative territory for an extended period.
Pakistan’s interest rate stands at 22pc, the highest in the history of a cash-strapped country and now it could be increased by up to 23pc.
Lately, the central bank announced a Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday and added that the rate would be announced via a press release.
Last month, the State Bank turned down the report of the special meeting and said that the deliberations would take place as per routine in September.