KARACHI: July 27, 2023: The State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday said it is going to announce the new monetary policy on July 31. SBP had maintained the current rate of interest of 21 % in its last announcement. Since SBP will be cautious of International Monetary Fund (IMF) guideline while taking any decision on the interest rate it seems improbable that the central bank will cut down interest rates in next announcement to be made on Monday.
The central bank will also be conscious that any further increase in interest rate will be even more devastating so it may not go for further upward revision in interest rate in next monetary policy.
SBP has currently 21 % interest rate which is only serving the purpose of the commercial banks which are piling up profit through lending to the government, For the last at least four to five years the commercial banks are only beneficiary of SBP policy of jacking up interest rate at an abnormal level. No business or industry not even well establish can borrow money from the bank at 21 % interest rate which ends up at 26 % by including kibor charges.
A statement of SBP made on Thursday said “The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will meet on Monday, July 31, 2023 to decide about Monetary Policy. Governor SBP, Mr. Jameel Ahmad will announce the Monetary Policy decision at a press conference on the same day after the MPC meeting”.
