The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will meet on Monday, May 05, 2025 to decide about the monetary policy, according to a SBP statement on Wednesday. “Later on, SBP will issue the Monetary Policy Statement through a press release on the same day,” it said. The central bank is expected to cut the key policy rate by 50bps to take it to 11.5%, as per a report of brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL). In the last meeting on March 10, the central bank maintained the policy rate stable at 12%. “The committee noted that inflation in February 2025 turned out lower than expectation, mainly due to a drop in food and energy prices. “Notwithstanding this decline, the committee assessed the risks posed by the inherent volatility in these prices to the current declining trend in inflation. At the same time, core inflation is proving to be more persistent at an elevated level and thus uptick in the food and energy prices may lead to increase in inflation,” the MPC said in its statement then. AHL in its report said given the sustained disinflationary trend and ample real interest rate cushion, there was still room for a measured rate cut to support economic recovery without undermining macroeconomic stability.