SBP to Announce Monetary Policy Tomorrow

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will meet tomorrow (Monday) to decide about the Monetary Policy. The central bank will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release on the same day. At its last meeting on September 14, the MPC decided to maintain the policy rate at 22 percent. At the time, the MPC statement said that the decision took into account the latest inflation outturn reflecting the continuing declining trend in inflation from its peak of 38 percent in May to 27.4 percent in August 2023. Market analysts expect the MPC to keep the policy rate unchanged. According to a recent survey conducted by Topline Securities, 70 percent of participants expect the policy rate to remain unchanged at 22 percent. 16 percent of participants expect the policy rate to down by 25-100bps and 11 percent of participants expect it to down by more than 100bps. Just 3 percent expect the policy rate to increase by more than more than 100bps and no one expects it to increase by 25-100bps.