Central bank has changed its schedule to announce the monetary policy decision, said a statement issued on Thursday by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). It said SBP’s Central Board of Directors has decided to reschedule its meetings on monetary policy from the last week of the alternate month to the first half of the following month during a calendar year. This change in the schedule of board meetings has been made in order to take into consideration the latest data on inflation released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). The data now becomes available at the beginning of a month instead of the second week. It may be pointed out that the board meetings on monetary policy, which were earlier scheduled to be held in the last week of January, March, May, July, September and November, have now been shifted to the first half of February, April, June, August, October and December. The announcement of Monetary Policy Statement in February and August will be made through a press conference by Governor, State Bank of Pakistan while the other four monetary policy decisions in April, June, October and December will be announced through press releases. Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Yaseen Anwar, would unveil the next Monetary Policy Statement for the months of February and March 2012 at a press conference to be held here at SBP on February 11 at 4.00pm
