The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued the advance calendar of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings for the period between January and June 2025.

According to the schedule, the central bank is due to hold four meetings during the six months.

The first MPC meeting will be held on January 27 (Monday), 2025 while the second will be held on March 10 (Monday), 2025.

The third MPC meeting is scheduled to be held on May 05 (Monday), 2025 while the fourth is scheduled to take place on June 16 (Monday), 2025.

In its last MPC held on December 16, the central bank reduced the key policy by 200 basis points to take it down to 13%. This was the fifth successive cut since June 2024 when the rate stood at 22%.

Market experts anticipate a further decline in policy rate amid a fall in the CPI-based inflation rate, which clocked in at 4.1% in December.

“Given the current economic conditions, we anticipate a 100bps rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy meeting of Jan’25. This would bring the policy rate down to 12%,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a report.

What does the MPC do?

The MPC is responsible and fully empowered to decide the monetary policy stance.

Section 9E of the SBP Act 1956 lays out the powers and functions of the Monetary Policy Committee that have been mainly identified to formulate monetary policy, including, as appropriate, decisions relating to intermediate monetary objectives, key interest rates and the supply of reserves in Pakistan and may make regulations for their implementation.

Moreover, the MPC also approves and issues the monetary policy statement and other monetary policy measures. It also performs any other functions conferred on it by law and carries out any ancillary activities incidental to the exercise of its functions under this Act.