KARACHI – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed downward trend on Thursday as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reportedly demanded an increase in policy rate in an off-cycle review.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 329.09 points, or 0.8 per cent, to reach at 40,838.51 points when trading was closed in the market. It also witnessed a high level of 41,168.22 during intraday session.
Reports said the global lender has pushed the South Asian country to increase the interest rate by 200 basis points that would take the current 17% to 19%. The IMF has also called for tightening the monetary policy based on inflation in the country.
The cash-strapped country is implementing key measures to meeting the conditions of the IMF to secure much-needed funding. It has recently announced a mini-budget to impose Rs170 billion additional taxes and removing subsidies. Before that, it has allowed the free floating of the rupee value against the dollar.
