DHAKA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The central bank of Bangladesh cut its benchmark repo rate by 50 basis points to 9.5 percent on Sunday, its first reduction in six years.
The repo rate is the interest rate at which commercial banks pay to borrow from the central bank.
The revised rate took effect on Sunday, Bangladesh Bank (BB) said in a statement.
The last policy rate cut was in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, BB data showed.
BB held the repo rate at 4.75 percent from July 2020 to May 2022, before raising it repeatedly to contain inflation, pushing it to a record 10 percent by October 2024. It had remained unchanged since. ■