Pakistan's central bank has hiked its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to new record high at 21% on Tuesday, saying the action was a must to anchor the elevated inflation reading. Earlier, the central bank had estimated economic growth blow 2% for the current fiscal year 2023, it was learnt. The increase in the policy rate was well in line with the market expectation for 100-200 basis points surge. The central bank noted that "the surge in inflation was broad-based, though a large part of it was contributed by food and energy components. On the other hand, experts viewed the central bank has increased the rate on the IMF recommendation to resume its $6.5 billion loan progrmme.
