The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday decided to keep the interest rate unchanged at 22 per cent.

The announcement was made by State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmed after a meeting of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today.

The SBP governor said the inflation rate was 29pc during last month, while it will come down in January.

The governor said the current account deficit is curtailed at 0.7pc. The SBP-held foreign reserves currently stand at $8.3 billion which shows the improvement in the balance of payments, Jameel added.

In its previous meeting on December 12, the MPC of the SBP had also kept the key policy rate unchanged at 22%, which was in line with market expectations.

Back then, the MPC reiterated “that the real interest rate continues to be positive on a 12-month forward-looking basis and inflation is expected to remain on a downward path.”