Interest rate likely to be cut by 200 bps

RecorDER REPORT

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will announce Monetary Policy for next two months on Tuesday (today). Independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank will meet today at SBP head office Karachi to take a decision on key policy rate, which is stable at 13.25 percent since July 2019.

Monetary policy committee is most likely to cut the interest rate ranging 100 to 200 basis points (bps) as most of economic indicators are on positive side. Several countries have already reduced interest rates to support the economy as Coronavirus is severely impacting the economies around the world.

Economists said that positive development on economic fronts like stabilized exchange rate, increase in forex exchange reserves, lower current account deficit and inflation and falling oil prices have created some cushion for rate cut. They are expecting some 100 to 200 bps cut in key policy rate in today’s announcement.