Bangladesh Bank has postponed a scheduled meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that was set for Wednesday at noon to discuss a possible reduction in the policy interest rate. The meeting was called by the new governor, Mostakur Rahman, who recently took office and had planned to lower the policy rate by 50 basis points in the first phase. The proposed cut was expected to bring down lending rates across the banking sector.

The seven-member MPC is chaired by Governor Rahman and includes Deputy Governor Md. Habibur Rahman, Chief Economist Md. Akhtar Hossain, BIDS Director General A.K. Enamul Haque, Dhaka University Economics Department Chair Ferdousi Nahar, and Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mahmud Salahuddin Naser. The only board-nominated member, Sadiq Ahmed, has reportedly resigned from the committee.

The previous governor, Ahsan H. Mansur, announced the last monetary policy last month, keeping the policy rate unchanged at 10 percent, a level maintained since October 2024. Inflation, which peaked at 11.38 percent in November, eased to 8.58 percent by January.