Rising bets for Central Bank to stay pat on current rates at upcoming policy meeting

The Central Bank is set to keep the rates when it meets for the second time for this year, this week, to decide on the key policy rate, after it left the overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged at its January meeting.

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In January, the Central Bank cited limited price pressures and in fact, the deepening deflationary conditions, declining interest rates and recovery in the economy, which was taking place at a robust pace.

At the first policy meeting held for 2025, the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank left the key policy rate - OPR - at the 8.00 percent level - the level it set back in November last year, when it shifted to the single policy rate from the hitherto existed dual policy rates.

The banks’ statutory reserve ratio (SRR) was also left at 2.00 percent. The SRR is the amount of money maintained with the Central Bank by the licensed banks from their deposit liabilities.

Meanwhile, First Capital Research, in its customary pre-policy analysis, expected the Central Bank to keep its policy rates unchanged at its upcoming meeting this week. It assigned an 80 percent probability for such a scenario while the balance was split between a cut of 25bps and 50bps.