Karachi (Web Desk): The State Bank of Pakistan (PSB) on Friday slashed the policy rate by 100 basis points to 8%.
According to an SBP statement, the decision was taken in a meeting of bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today.
The interest rate has been reduced keeping in view the situation following the coronavirus. The interest rate has been reduced by 5.25 percent by the central bank since March 17.
The SBP, earlier, announced that it will provide loans to health facilities on a 3% markup to counter coronavirus outbreak.
The central bank declared that the inflation rate will come down in the coming months while the prices of petroleum products will also decrease.
Local businesses and exporters have lately been protesting at high borrowing costs, which they said was harming investment.
In January 2020, the interest rate was left unchanged at 13.25 percent.
The central bank announces a target rate every two months, which serves as the benchmark interest rate for overnight funds in the interbank market.
