ISLAMABAD – In a major economic decision, Pakistan has raised the keyinterest rates to harness the economic woes.

State Bank of Pakistan increased its main interest rate by 100 basis pointsto 8.5 percent on Saturday, citing rising inflation and economic worriesover the large fiscal and current account deficits.-

The State Bank of Pakistan said “concerns on the economic front continue topersist on the back of rising inflation and large twin deficits …(and) arelikely to compromise the sustainability of the high real economic growthpath”.