DHAKA, Jan 26, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladesh Bank (BB) is likely to announce its 
Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the second half of the ongoing fiscal 
2024-25 (FY25) on February 10.

A senior official of the central bank confirmed the date and said, "We have 
fixed a tentative date on February 10." 

The MPS for the second half of the current fiscal is being formulated, 
maintaining its 'contractionary' mood giving priority on inflation-combating, 
he added.

The MPS will be the first monetary policy to be announced by Dr Ahsan H 
Mansur who became governor of Bangladesh Bank following the political 
changeover on August 5 last year.

For formulating the MPS, the official said the Monetary Policy Department of 
the central bank is holding meetings with internal and external stakeholders 
as well as economists.

They also held meeting for the first time with stakeholders as well as 
economists at Chattogram, he added.

The central bank also held a discussion with the country's leading research 
organisations recently at Lakeshore Hotel in Gulshan in the city on potential 
policy measures.

The organisations included the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, 
Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and South Asian Network on Economic 
Modelling.

Inflation in Bangladesh has been hovering above nine percent since March 
2023, with the central bank's existing contractionary monetary policy yet to 
cool consumer prices.

Bangladesh Bank has hiked the policy rate several times to 10 percent since 
then. The policy rate is the interest rate at which commercial banks borrow 
from the central bank.

But in December of the just concluded calendar year, inflation had eased 
slightly to 10.89 percent from 11.38 percent the previous month, according to 
the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

On July 18, 2024, the central bank unveiled the last MPS for the first half 
of the current fiscal FY25.