Pakistan, Sri Lanka to decide on key rates as IMF bailouts hang – report

 

Borrowing costs hovering at two-decade highs to quell Asia’s fastest inflation rates will be in focus in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as the crisis-gripped economies review monetary policy settings in decisions seen as key to winning multilateral bailout funds.

The two monetary authorities are likely to take different tracks as price pressures have somewhat eased in Sri Lanka after peaking at nearly 70%, while still on the boil in Pakistan where the central bank advanced the meeting by two weeks to March 2.

“Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are well behind the inflation curve,” according to Hasnain Malik, a strategist at Tellimer in Dubai.