Bangladesh Bank (BB) is scheduled to announce its monetary policy for the January-June period on Monday, the central bank said on Sunday.
Governor Ahsan H Mansur will unveil the policy at 3:30pm.
The monetary policy outlines the central bank’s plan for regulating money supply over a specific period to support the government’s fiscal and economic plans.
Issued every six months, the policy is expected to maintain continuity with the existing framework, with inflation control remaining the primary focus.
Officials indicated that Bangladesh Bank is likely to retain a contractionary stance for the next six months, following guidance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has advised against lowering policy interest rates until inflation falls below 7 percent.
The central bank has been pursuing a tightening approach since late 2024.
In the most recent policy, the policy interest rate was set at 10 percent. The Standing Lending Facility (SLF) rate stood at 11.5 percent, while the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate was fixed at 8 percent.
Inflation began to accelerate in September 2022 as the Bangladeshi currency Taka weakened against the US dollar, rising sharply to 9.52 percent from 7.56 percent in August that year.
To curb price pressures, Bangladesh Bank started increasing policy rates toward the end of 2022.
Despite these measures, inflation remained in double digits for an extended period, reaching a peak of 11.66 percent in July 2024.
That month coincided with student-led protests, which escalated into a wider mass movement the following month and led to the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August.
After the interim government assumed office, the central bank reinforced its contractionary policy, helping to ease inflation. The rate declined to 10.49 percent in August 2024.
According to the latest data, overall inflation stood at 8.49 percent in December, up slightly from 8.29 percent in the previous month but well below the 10.89 percent recorded in December a year earlier.
