SBP releases MPC calendar for FY27, doubles press briefings

As part of its efforts to bring greater transparency and predictability into monetary policy formulation, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday released the advance calendar for Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings for FY27.

The central bank has also decided to increase the frequency of post-MPC press conferences from two to four times a year. The press conferences by SBP’s Governor will be conducted following the MPC meetings in July, October, January and April.

At the same time, SBP has decided to publish the presentation prepared by the staff for the post-MPC analyst briefing.

The presentation will be published on SBP’s official website one day after the MPC meeting.

“This decision is aimed at bringing greater transparency into the MPC’s reaction function and to increase stakeholders’ confidence about the thorough and data-driven monetary policy formulation process at the SBP,” read the statement.

“Lastly, the SBP has decided to streamline the process for the publication of the minutes of the MPC meetings.

“The minutes will now be published by the end of the 4th week of the corresponding MPC meeting on SBP’s website,” it added.

It said that the continuous improvements in SBP’s monetary policy-related communications are guided by the SBP’s Strategic Plan – Vision 2028 – which aims to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission by anchoring inflation expectations and facilitating the formal adoption of an inflation targeting regime.

Last week, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 11.5%.

“The committee noted that global oil prices have eased following the recent positive geopolitical developments, yet they remain elevated as compared to pre-conflict levels. Nonetheless, as anticipated in the last MPC meeting, the impact of the conflict is now reflecting in recent economic indicators,” read the statement.