Business Report :
Bangladesh Bank is set to unveil the monetary policy for the first half of FY25 in the third week of July, to bring down inflation which has persistently remained high.
Inflation in Bangladesh has been hovering at over 9% since March last year and the central bank’s existing tight monetary policy stance is yet to help cool down consumer prices.
The central bank is preparing to announce the new monetary policy sometime between July 15 and July 20, said a member of the monetary policy committee.
As a part of the preparations, its monetary policy department will start holding meetings with stakeholders and economists from July 7.
The monetary policy department set a meeting with central bank officials of the executive director grade and above on July 7 to avail opinions on the preparation of the new monetary policy.
Then, they will hold meetings with other stakeholders and economists until July 15.
The central bank has taken a series of initiatives to tackle ongoing economic challenges, especially to rein in skyrocketing inflation, but to no avail.
On a 12-month average during June 2023 and May 2024, the inflation rate was 9.73%, much higher than the Bangladesh Bank ‘s target of 7.5% for the outgoing FY24.
The government has set a goal to contain the consumer price hike at 6.5% for FY25.