The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be held on March 02 meeting that was originally scheduled for March 16.
To expedite efforts to secure the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, the SBP announced that the next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee had been rescheduled for Thursday, March 2, 2023.
The market expects the SBP to raise benchmark interest rates because the increase in Treasury yields at the most recent auction indicated that the market was beginning to factor in economic concerns due to investors’ continued focus on rising inflation in Pakistan and globally.
In addition, the Fund’s primary requirement for reviving the loan program was that the coalition government increase the interest rate from 17 percent to 19 percent.
Analysts believed the SBP should move up the MPC meeting date, as the Treasury could not afford to lose the upcoming T-bill auction.
Importantly, the Fund and the central bank discussed the possibility of further tightening monetary policy and increasing foreign exchange reserves by the end of June 2023.
The IMF had also requested that the SBP increase the policy rate by 300 to 400 basis points to change the trajectory of the interest rate from negative to positive.
The cash-strapped nation is taking significant measures to obtain IMF funding, including increasing taxes, eliminating blanket subsidies, and instituting artificial exchange rate restrictions. While the government expects to reach an agreement with the IMF in the near future, media reports indicate that the agency anticipates a rise in the policy rate.
In Pakistan, however, there are numerous off-cycle rate reviews.
 has announced that Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be held on March 02 meeting that was originally scheduled for March 16.){kind=link}