SBP decides to maintain interest rate at 22%

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed announced that the State Bank Monetary Policy Committee has decided not to change the interest rate and to maintain it at 22 per cent.
SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad and the monetary policy committee members held a joint press conference and informed the media persons about the financial statistics of the country.
He said in an important economic assessment of the committee, that there has been a significant improvement in the foreign exchange reserves and in the last six months, the foreign exchange reserves have exceeded 8 billion dollars.
He added that the foreign exchange also saw an increase of four billion dollars despite paying the external debt and other payments.
The SBP governor said the current account deficit was 17.50 billion dollars last financial year. He said the committee also focused on various projections after reviewing the economic statistics.
He said the productivity of the industry is improving now and economic activities have been taken positively by the industry.
SBP Governor Jameel also said that the inflation rate will be between 23 and 25 per cent at the end of this financial year.
Jameel Ahmed said that economic growth is expected to be 2 to 3 per cent this fiscal year.
The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the State Bank will be held on March 18, 2024, as per the annual schedule.

Reporter: Ashraf Khan