KARACHI, Jan 26: The State Bank fears that inflation may remain at the higher side during the second half (Jan-June) of the fiscal year 2005-06, but assures that a check on inflationary pressure through tight monetary policy will continue.

The SBP announced a revised monetary policy on Thursday without any significant change and stressed that interest rates could see some changes but it would not hurt the economic growth.

The SBP assessed that the real GDP growth could be modestly below target because of a slowdown in agriculture and a relatively weak performance by the large-scale manufacturing sector.

The monetary policy will ensure that sufficient bank credit opportunities are available for all segments of the economy, including the SME sector and agriculture, encouraging capacity expansion and contributing to employment growth and poverty alleviation.