Daily Times

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has reduced the rates of return on a number of its National Savings Schemes (NSS) with the decrease going as low as 200 basis points (bps), following the central bank’s policy rate cut.

The rate of Savings Account (SA) lowered by 200bps to 11.50% from 13.50%, brokerage house Arif Habib Limited reported.

The changes take effect from January 31, 2025 onward.

The Defence Saving Certificates (DSC) will offer a return of 12.10%, after a decline of 9bps from 12.19%.

The return on Bahbood Savings Certificates (BSC) declined by 24bps to 13.68% from 13.92%.

Similarly, Regular Income Certificates (RIC) will offer an 11.88% return, as compared to 12% earlier, a drop of 12bps.

The rate on Short Term Savings Certificates (STSC) was reduced by 100bps to 11.38% from 12.38%.

Meanwhile, the rates of Pensioners Benefit Account (PBA) and Shuhda Family Welfare Account (SFWA) lowered by 24bps each, to 13.68%.

Days ago, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reduced the key policy rate by 1%, taking it down to 12%.

This was the sixth successive cut in the key interest rate since June 2024 when it stood at 22%.

“Inflation is expected to come down further in January before inching up in the subsequent months. The Committee also noted that core inflation, while continuing to ease, is still at an elevated level,” the MPC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 4.1% on a year-on-year basis in December 2024, a reading below that of November 2024 when it stood at 4.9%, showed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data.