LAHORE MIRROR — The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday maintained the key policy rate at 22% against market expectations.
Analysts on the other hand were expecting an increase in the interest on International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidelines.
SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed following the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, saying in view of the decline in inflation, the SBP decided not to increase the interest rate.
The SBP governor told a presser that the growth rate is expected to remain between 2% to 3% over the next year.
He said the government has lifted all restrictions on imports and the country’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.2 billion in July after Pakistan received funds from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other friendly countries.
The central bank chief said the foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP stood at $8.2 billion and they will improve further in December this year.
SBP Governor Ahmed said more loans will be rolled over in the coming months, adding that according to the MPC inflation is expected to come down.
The SBP has raised its key policy rate by 12.25 percentage points since April 2022, mainly to curb soaring inflation.
