Growth rate down to 3.7pc and inflation trend

[LahoreEstate]

KARACHI (Agencies) - State Bank of Pakistan has decided to leave its discount rate, the key policy rate, unchanged at 15 per cent for the rest of the quarter, SBP Governor Syed Salim Raza said on Saturday.

The central bank raised interest rates by 2 percentage points to 15 per cent on November 12, the same month it signed a $7.6 billion loan with the International Monetary Fund to stave off a balance of payments crisis.

The Bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, after five increases in the past 18 months, as inflation eased from a 30-year record.

Salim Raza disclosed that the SBP Central Board of Directors has decided that the Bank will issue monetary policy statement on quarterly basis.

Unveiling the Monetary Policy Statement, at a Press conference at State Bank’s Head Office here, Salim Raza said that the next monetary policy statement will be issued by the end April 2009.

SBP maintained its discount rate for commercial lenders at 15 per cent, Salim Raza said in Karachi after releasing his first semi-annual monetary policy statement since taking charge on January 2.

“Inflation is moving in the right direction and coming down,” Raza said. “But it will take time and is difficult to shake off.” Pakistan will review the interest rate every quarter rather than every six months, he said.

“Any cut in rates at this time would have unhinged the government’s economic stabilisation policy,” said Zainab Jabbar, group chief economist at IGI Finex Securities Ltd. in Karachi. “We expect a cut later in the year.”

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-n...wn-to-37pc