Pakistan News: Pakistan started copying India, when Japan took a historic decision after 17 years

6 Month ago

Now Pakistan also seems to be following India's footsteps. Especially the Central Bank of Pakistan. News is coming from Pakistan that for the sixth consecutive time the Central Bank has decided to keep interest rates unchanged in its policy meeting. Currently, interest rates in Pakistan are at record levels. This means that common people have to pay more interest on loans.

On the other hand, Japan has also taken a historic decision to increase interest rates after 17 years. Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India also kept policy rates unchanged for the sixth consecutive time in February without any change in interest rates. Let us also tell you the policy rate percentage in Pakistan.

No change in interest rates for the 6th time

The Central Bank of Pakistan left the key lending rate unchanged in its sixth consecutive policy meeting. This means that interest rates in Pakistan will remain the same as before. Currently, the policy rate in Pakistan is at a record high of 22 percent. The SBP said in a statement that the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) reviewed the current economic growth. On maintaining the status quo, the MPC said that although inflation has come down significantly, it is still very high, and therefore the central bank remains sensitive to risks. The committee said the data showed a slight pick-up in economic activity.

Inflation is not showing signs of abating

Inflation figures in Pakistan show no sign of abating. Even during the month of Ramadan, the prices of fruits and vegetables have skyrocketed. The price of flour has also increased significantly. Due to which the common people are facing a lot of trouble. For this reason, the Central Bank of Pakistan has decided not to change the interest rates. According to experts, there is no possibility of inflation in the coming days. In such a situation, Pakistan may have to struggle with inflation for a long time.

Relief package from IMF

Meanwhile, the neighboring country's newly elected government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure the next phase of the relief package. The IMF is to decide whether Pakistan has met the conditions necessary to receive the next tranche of $1.1 billion. Pakistan has long been demanding a relief package from the IMF. Meanwhile, due to the elections in Pakistan, the process was slowed down. After the formation of the new government, the government of Pakistan has started requesting the IMF for a relief package.

Japan raises interest rates after 17 years

Japan's central bank has raised prime lending rates for the first time in 17 years to boost the economy. With this, the long-standing policy of negative interest rates has come to an end. The Bank of Japan raised short-term interest rates to 0.1 percent from -0.1 percent at its policy meeting. This is the first rate hike since February 2007.

The central bank set an inflation target of two percent, indicating that Japan has finally escaped a deflationary trend. Unlike inflation, prices begin to fall in deflation. Bank of Japan chief Kazuo Ueda said earlier that if the two percent inflation target is met, the bank will review its negative interest rate.

India's interest rates stable

On the other hand, if we talk about India, RBI has also pressed the freeze button on the policy rate from February 2023. Currently, RBI has not changed the repo rate for the last one year. Due to which inflation is increasing. Even now India's inflation rate is more than 5 percent. At one point the country's inflation rate exceeded 6 percent. Due to this, interest rates were continuously increased from May 2022 to February 2023 and have reached 6.50 percent with an increase of 2.50 percent.