Yaseen to unveil MPS today: Policy rate may be kept unchanged

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan Governor Yaseen Anwar will unveil Monetary Policy Statement for next two months on Saturday (today).

Analysts said that in the current economic condition, when the reserves are on a decline, inflation and current account deficit are on the higher side, the SBP is likely to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 12 percent for Feb and March 2012.

The Central Board of Directors of the SBP will meet Saturday at SBP Head Office to announce MPS. The policy statement was due last week of January, however the Central Board decided to reschedule its meetings on monetary policy from the last week of the alternate month to the first half of the following month during a calendar year, in order to take into consideration the latest data on inflation released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

The inflation data now becomes available at the beginning of a month instead of the second week.

Currently, it required to keep watch on the economic indicators for next two months as the inflationary pressure is again surging and reserves are depleting gradually. Another major decline in reserves is also expected in the last week of February as the IMF SBA's first instalment is due on Feb 24, 2012.