Staff Correspondent: As Bangladesh Bank keeps the key policy interest rates unchanged on Sunday, the governor cites a steady inflation outlook and overall economic stability.
While outlining the monetary policy stance for January-June During the monetary policy statement today, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said average inflation was predicted to be within 5.3-5.6 percent in June, below the target of 5.8 percent for the 2016-17 financial year that ended in June.
However, a predicted rise in global commodity prices in 2017 could continue exerting some upward pressure on domestic prices, he said.
In January 2016, the central bank cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point for the first time in nearly three years as easing inflation gave it room to help spur economic growth.
Average inflation was 5.92 percent in the 2015-16 financial year, the lowest in 12 years, largely due to a sharp fall in global commodity prices and good agricultural output in the South Asian country of 160 million people.