No monetary policy till September, says State Bank

The State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday said that it will not hold the scheduled monetary policy meeting in August given the meetings that have taken place in recent months. 

“Given the number of MPC meetings that have taken place in recent months, and actions taken in those meetings, the MPC does not consider it necessary to hold the regular meeting of July 2020. The next regular meeting of the MPC will now be held in September 2020,” the SBP said in a press release 

“The MPC continues to observe economic conditions and stands ready to take whatever further actions may become necessary in response to any adverse impact on the economy because of the pandemic or any other factor,” it added.

The next MPC meeting is scheduled to be held in September. In the meantime, however, the SBP will gauge the economic conditions especially the trends in inflation and decide on the best action in the meeting. 

The SBP has increased its efforts to stimulate the economy through a range of factors aimed at mitigating the aftershocks of coronavirus on the economy. 

Ever since the Covid-19 spread in the country in March, the SBP has launched various schemes aiming to extend cheap loans to the consumers and deferring interest payments for an year. 

In addition, it has also cut the policy rate by more than 6.25 per cent to historic lows in order to ensure investors can borrow funds to expand their activities at cheaper costs.

The SBP’s have borne fruit as some sectors i.e. cement and automobiles achieve have picked up reporting a sharp increase in sales. Meanwhile, the number of corona positive cases have also fallen sharply over the last few weeks with transmission rates for the country falling to lowest in the world. 

The upcoming quarter could be marked with a sharp rebound as sales in the various sectors pick up from a very low base.