Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh is going to unveil its monetary policy statement (MPS) on July 18 giving priority to contain inflation and helping the productive sectors achieve maximum economic growth, officials said.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Atiur Rahman will announce the half-yearly (July-December) MPS on the day aiming to bring down inflation to 7.5 per cent from the current level at 10.62 per cent.
“We may continue the ongoing restrained monetary policy for the next six months to know its impact on the overall economy,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
Earlier on January 26, the central bank unveiled the ‘restrained’ monetary policy aiming to bring down inflation to a single digit by June last through discouraging credit flow to unproductive sectors.
The country’s inflation as measured by consumers’ price index (CPI) eased slightly in the month of June last on both the annual average and point-to-point basis mainly because of declining prices of food items.
The inflation rate came down to 10.62 per cent in June 2012 from 10.76 per cent of the previous month on the annual average basis, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data.
On the other hand, the point-to-point inflation rate felt to 8.56 per cent in June last from 9.15 per cent of the previous month.
“There is no alternative right now other than curbing inflationary pressure on the economy for achieving sustainable growth,” the central banker said, adding that the BB wants to keep lower inflationary pressure and higher economic growth through employment generation across the country.
The central bank has already sought opinions from stakeholders including former finance advisers of the caretaker governments, former central bank governors and leading economists, experts, senior journalists and trade bodies for preparing a pragmatic monetary policy.
BBN/SSR/AD-10July12-10:10 am (BST)
