Bank rate hike on the cards

Alliance Investment Bank chief economist Manokaran Mottain (pic) told StarBiz that the last paragraph in the monetary policy statement was a hint of what could be ahead.

PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara has sent out the clearest signal of an imminent hike in the benchmark overnight policy rate (OPR), a move that would cause interest rates to increase.

In a statement to announce its decision to maintain the OPR at 3%, it also alluded to the need of adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation as financial imbalances continued to build up.