The lending rate of bank loans has gone past 12 percent on the back of the rising benchmark interest rate, sending the cost of funds for borrowers higher, as the central bank’s contractionary monetary policy appears to have taken hold.

The new monetary policy will not be enough to help Bangladesh rein in higher inflation as the central bank has come up with inadequate measures against huge expectations, economists and experts said yesterday.

The Bangladesh Bank unveiled its monetary policy for the second half of the current fiscal year, with the goal to tame runaway inflation, which has been a concern for the past two years. Here are the major points of this monetary policy, and how they might -- at least in theory -- ensure a smooth economic journey for Bangladesh over the next six months.

The BB maintained a contractionary policy stance in the July-December of 2023-24