KARACHI: As inflation continues to decline, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) lowered the benchmark policy rate by 200 basis points (bps) to 13% on Monday, its fifth straight cut.
In light of falling inflation, the central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 250 basis points to 15% last month, which was at least 0.5% higher than the market had anticipated.
November’s consumer price index (CPI) came in at 4.9%, which was far below the overall market consensus but in accordance with the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) forecast.
With core inflation at 9.7%, the MPC stated that “this deceleration was mainly driven by continued decline in food inflation as well as the phasing out of the impact of the hike in gas tariffs in November 2023.”
