{"id":726,"date":"2026-04-27T15:43:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/?p=726"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:43:39","slug":"sbp-raises-interest-rate-by-100-basis-points-to-11-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/sbp-raises-interest-rate-by-100-basis-points-to-11-5\/","title":{"rendered":"SBP raises interest rate by 100 basis points to 11.5%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>KARACHI<\/strong>: In a move that defied market expectations, the State Bank of Pakistan\u2019s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced a sharp 100 basis point increase in the policy rate, raising it to 11.5%, effective April 28, 2026. The decision, revealed after the MPC meeting held earlier today, caught analysts off guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arif Habib Limited (AHL) had published a detailed preview arguing forcefully for maintaining the status quo at 10.5%. &#8220;Given the supply-driven nature of current inflationary pressures, responding with tightening risks a policy error,&#8221; AHL had noted, pointing to transient base effects and contained core inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arif Habib Limited acknowledged that &#8220;calls for tightening have gained some traction, particularly around IMF considerations,&#8221; but maintained that at 10.5%, policy was already in restrictive territory. Their survey showed only 17% had predicted a 100 bps hike, with 61% expecting no change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SBP\u2019s move signals a decisive pivot, prioritising inflation anchoring over near-term growth support, even as the economy posts a 3.89% GDP expansion in Q2 and a $1.07 billion current account surplus in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next MPC meeting in June, alongside the federal budget, will now be watched closely for any signs of reversal\u2014or further tightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier in March, the SBP maintained its policy rate unchanged at 10.5% following its meeting on March 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cautious pause in March was seen as support for ongoing macroeconomic stability efforts, building on prior rate reductions (including the 50 bps cut to 10.5% in December 2025), while allowing time to monitor energy price dynamics, domestic inflation trends, and external account resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SBP emphasised in its previous many PMC statements a balanced approach to safeguarding price stability while nurturing sustainable growth recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KARACHI: In a move that defied market expectations, the State Bank of Pakistan\u2019s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced a sharp 100 basis point increase in the policy rate, raising it to 11.5%, effective April 28, 2026. The decision, revealed after the MPC meeting held earlier today, caught analysts off guard. Arif Habib Limited (AHL) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,2],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance","8":"category-latest","9":"category-pakisstan"},"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"afnanwasif","display_name":"Web Desk","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbec8328241e98fefcd32e00f20f7a6b502086a0b95d395db4b1565c51681914?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":727,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}