KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will announce monetary policy on October 10 (tomorrow).
The Monetary Policy Committee of SBP will meet on Monday, October 10, 2022 at SBP Karachi to decide about the Monetary Policy. Later on, SBP will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release on the same day.
According to analysts, the committee to keep the policy rate unchanged at 15 per cent. Our stance is underpinned by: 1) the sharp decline in economic activity after policy reforms, 2) wide-scale flooding further restricting economic activity, and 3) easing external account imbalances.
Recent months have witnessed a sharp decline in economic activity. Fiscal reforms and monetary policy actions have taken a toll on Pakistan’s industrial activity.
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The first two months of the fiscal year saw cement dispatches fall by 35 per cent YoY, fertilizer off-take decline by 33 per cent YoY, OMC sales dip by 25 per cent YoY, and car sales plummet by 50 per cent YoY.
The wide-scale flooding has also significantly affected Pakistan’s economic output because of infrastructural damages to the road networks. Overall, we project a 2pps reduction in Pakistan’s GDP growth rate to around 1.5-2.0 per cent in FY23.
