SBP keeps interest rate unchanged at 6pc

By
Reuters
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SBP keeps interest rate unchanged at 6pc

KARACHI: Pakistan's central bank kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 6 percent on Saturday, the State Bank of Pakistan governor told a news conference, citing lower inflationary pressures and improved economic indicators.

The central bank has kept the rate at 6 percent since September after a series of cuts to the benchmark over the previous year.

Tumbling commodity and oil prices have helped ease inflation in Pakistan, allowing the bank to cut rates as it tries to revive an economy still struggling with low levels of capital investment, falling exports and severe power shortages.

State Bank of Pakistan Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra said he expected Pakistan´s inflation rate for the financial year ending in 2016 to remain between 3 and 4 percent.

"In view of positive economic indicators, lower inflationary pressure and growth in large-scale manufacturing the monetary policy committee has decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 6 percent," Wathra told reporters in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial hub.

Pakistan’s economy grew 4.2 percent in the year to June 2015, short of a target of 5.1 percent, the central bank said last month.