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Category: Money & Banking

Money and banking drive economic activity by facilitating transactions, savings, and investments. Banks manage financial resources, offer credit, and regulate money supply, ensuring stability and growth in Pakistan’s financial sector.

  • Govt. trying to bring down dollar price: Dar

    Govt. trying to bring down dollar price: Dar

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the government is trying to bring down the dollar price in order to ease the inflationary pressure.

    According to state media the finance minister said the government is taking measures to bring down dollar price to 200 rupees after which the prices of daily commodities would also come down.

    He said there is also a strong will to reduce inflation from 12 to 14 per cent and giving relief to common man.

    READ MORE: PKR recovers against dollar for ninth consecutive session

    He said stabilizing national currency against US dollar would have positive impact on every citizen’s life.

    Responding to a question, Ishaq Dar said the government is committed to fulfill the agreement made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    READ MORE: PKR maintains winning streak against dollar on 8th straight session

    It is worth mentioning that Pakistani Rupee (PKR) a day earlier continued recovery against the dollar for 9th straight session in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee gained 1.70 to end at PKR 223.94 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of PKR 225.64 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    The local currency gained PKR 15.77 against the dollar during the last nine sessions. The exchange rate reached to near record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 223.94 on October 05, 2022.

    Currency experts said that the rupee was appreciating against the dollar due to positive sentiments following assumption of Ishaq Dar as the finance minister. Dar recently claimed that the actual value of the dollar is below PKR 200 and he vowed to bring it down.

    Meanwhile, the international oil prices also crashed which helped the rupee to make gains.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

  • Bank holiday announced on October 9, 2022

    Bank holiday announced on October 9, 2022

    KARACHI: Banks shall remain closed on October 9, 2022 on the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa-Sallam).

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday in a communication with the president and chief executives of all banks, development financial institutions and microfinance banks that the central bank will remain closed on Sunday, October 9, 2022 (i.e. 12th Rabi-ul-Awal, 1444 A.H.) on the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa-Sallam).

  • Faysal Bank, K-Electric collaborate to ease customer’s payment

    Faysal Bank, K-Electric collaborate to ease customer’s payment

    KARACHI: Faysal Bank Limited (FBL), one of the leading Islamic Banks in the country, and K-Electric have come together to ease customer’s payment burden in times of economic crunch.

    As part of the collaboration, Faysal Islami Noor Card holders will now be able to pay their electricity bills through easy instalment plan options of up to 3 months. Faysal Islami Noor card has gained immense popularity amongst industry card customers because it is a Shariah compliant alternative to conventional credit cards that offers amazing discounts and offers.

    Speaking on the occasion, Head Consumer Finance (FBL), Aneeq Malik said: “Customer convenience has always been of paramount importance to the Bank and our partnership with K-Electric is a depiction of our commitment to our customers. We are confident that through the proposition will allow customers to manage their monthly expenditures in a more convenient and relaxed manner.”

    Delighted at the launch of this campaign, Chief Distribution Officer at K-Electric, Amer Zia said, “Our collaboration with Faysal Bank through this offer is another testament of our commitment towards providing maximum relief to our consumers”.

    Feroz Khan, Head Unsecured Business (FBL) further added, “We are committed to further building customer loyalty by offering the best in class products and benefits to our valued customers. This collaboration aims to ease customer expenditure on their KE billings specifically in the high billing periods.”

  • PKR recovers against dollar for ninth consecutive session

    PKR recovers against dollar for ninth consecutive session

    KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Wednesday continued recovery against the dollar for 9th straight session in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee gained 1.70 to end at PKR 223.94 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of PKR 225.64 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    READ MORE: PKR maintains winning streak against dollar on 8th straight session

    The local currency gained PKR 15.77 against the dollar during the last nine sessions. The exchange rate reached to near record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 223.94 on October 05, 2022.

    Currency experts said that the rupee was appreciating against the dollar due to positive sentiments following assumption of Ishaq Dar as the finance minister. Dar recently claimed that the actual value of the dollar is below PKR 200 and he vowed to bring it down.

    Meanwhile, the international oil prices also crashed which helped the rupee to make gains.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    It is worth mentioning that the rupee on last Friday recovered against the dollar after witnessing a consecutive 15-session fall.

    During this period the local currency depreciated by PKR 21.10 against the dollar from the interbank closing on September 01, 2022 at PKR 218.60.

    The local currency witnessed the historic low at PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022.

    Currency experts said that the rupee recovered because of the contraction in the current account deficit. Pakistan current account deficit recorded a contraction of 19 per cent during the first two months (July – August) of the current fiscal year 2022/2023.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

    Further, the experts said that the recent measures taken by the SBP also helped the rupee to gain value.

    However, the rupee failed to get support from the latest announcement of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about the funds of Saudi Arabia.

    The rupee has witnessed a continuous depreciation against the greenback even after the inflows received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The local currency recorded some recovery against the greenback after the IMF fund was transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). However, the removal of sanction on import of luxury and non-essential items the rupee again started free fall.

    READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session

    The currency experts said that although the IMF inflows would help the further inflows under bilateral and multilateral sources. However, the devastation of floods has changed the economic environment scenario.

    The torrential rains and flash floods have inflicted a loss of over $10 billion to Pakistan’s economy. The devastation will prompt the country to make imports in the coming days, especially for agriculture products.

    The rupee also fell due to continuous depletion in foreign exchange reserves of the country.

  • Dollar crashes to PKR 223.50 in midday interbank trading

    Dollar crashes to PKR 223.50 in midday interbank trading

    KARACHI: The US dollar has crashed against the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) and lost around PKR 16.21 since September 22, 2022 and is being trading at PKR 223.50.

    (more…)
  • NA committee directs SBP to take action exchange rate manipulators

    NA committee directs SBP to take action exchange rate manipulators

    ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to take appropriate action against all the banks and exchange companies involved in manipulating volatility of the exchange rate.

    The committee also directed the central bank to take appropriate action against elements involved in exchange rate manipulation so that no one dares to play with the economy of the country.

    READ MORE: PKR maintains winning streak against dollar on 8th straight session

    The committee met under the chairmanship of Member of National Assembly (MNA) Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, here in the Parliament House.

    The committee was of the view that during recent volatility in the exchange rate and the difference between the interbank rate and the rate offered by the Exchange Companies, few banks earned exorbitant profits.

    The committee was apprised that few banks and forex exchange companies were suspected of manipulating volatility in exchange rate.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    The SBP taking cognizance initiated strict monitoring of the foreign exchange operations of banks and exchange companies and has initiated inquiry proceedings into the violations made against SBP regulations.

    The Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmad further apprised that SME sector was the backbone of the country’s economy which had not been provided with relevant finances which it deserved.

    He said that on basis of cash flow the SME sector can avail credit from commercial banks.

    Regarding incentives given to the industrial and trading sector during COVID-19, the Governor State Bank said that the Bank adopted multipronged approach to facilitate industrial and trading sector.

    He said that those measures included debt rescheduling, financing the large and medium industries for carrying out their operations, besides chalking out measures that helped in avoiding retrenchment during the pandemic.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

    He also informed that export based industries were also promoted.

    The committee pointed that the measures taken by the SBP were exceptional but the benefits did not trickle down and financial incentives were mostly availed by large scale industry.

    The committee directed the State Bank to provide details sector wise about who benefited from those incentives.

    The committee also decided to discuss the proposed measures for rehabilitation of the flood affectees, agriculture and commercial sectors in its next meeting.

    The committee was of the view that devastation caused by floods was massive and it needed proper continuous fiscal policy measures.

    READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session

    While discussing the issues of SBP restriction on import of forklifts, the committee was of the view that the industry was suffering and the State Bank should look into this.

    The representatives of the Importers Association apprised that due to restrictions imposed by SBP, commercial banks had stopped confirming letters of credits (LOCs).

    The Governor State Bank informed that there was no restriction on LOCs opened before 5th July, 2022.

    The Committee meeting was attended by Members of the Committee, Minister of State for Finance, Secretary Finance, Chairman FBR, Governor State Bank and other senior officers of the concerned departments.

  • PKR maintains winning streak against dollar on 8th straight session

    PKR maintains winning streak against dollar on 8th straight session

    KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Tuesday maintained winning streak against the US Dollar for eighth consecutive session.

    The rupee gained 1.65 to end at PKR 225.64 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of PKR 227.29 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    The local currency gained PKR 14.07 against the dollar during the last eight sessions. The exchange rate reached a record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 225.64 on October 04, 2022.

    Currency experts said that latest appreciation in rupee value was due to a statement of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who a day earlier said the PKR was undervalued and actual value of the dollar was less than PKR 200.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

    Meanwhile, the international oil prices also crashed which helped the rupee to make gains.

    It is worth mentioning that the rupee on last Friday recovered against the dollar after witnessing a consecutive 15-session fall.

    During this period the local currency depreciated by PKR 21.10 against the dollar from the interbank closing on September 01, 2022 at PKR 218.60.

    The local currency witnessed the historic low at PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022.

    Currency experts said that the rupee recovered because of the contraction in the current account deficit. Pakistan current account deficit recorded a contraction of 19 per cent during the first two months (July – August) of the current fiscal year 2022/2023.

    READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session

    Further, the experts said that the recent measures taken by the SBP also helped the rupee to gain value.

    However, the rupee failed to get support from the latest announcement of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about the funds of Saudi Arabia.

    The rupee has witnessed a continuous depreciation against the greenback even after the inflows received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The local currency recorded some recovery against the greenback after the IMF fund was transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). However, the removal of sanction on import of luxury and non-essential items the rupee again started free fall.

    READ MORE: PKR strengthens sharply to dollar during last three sessions

    The currency experts said that although the IMF inflows would help the further inflows under bilateral and multilateral sources. However, the devastation of floods has changed the economic environment scenario.

    The torrential rains and flash floods have inflicted a loss of over $10 billion to Pakistan’s economy. The devastation will prompt the country to make imports in the coming days, especially for agriculture products.

    The rupee also fell due to continuous depletion in foreign exchange reserves of the country.

  • SBP likely to keep policy rate unchanged at 15%

    SBP likely to keep policy rate unchanged at 15%

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) likely to keep policy rate unchanged at 15 per cent at its policy announcement scheduled on October 10, 2022.

    A report issued by Arif Habib Limited stated that the central bank may keep the policy rate unchanged at 15 per cent in the upcoming monetary policy.

    To recall, in the last Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) too, policy rate was kept unchanged at 15 per cent. The current pause of the MPC has been dictated by the planned fiscal consolidation in FY23, recent developments in inflation being in-line with expectations, moderation in domestic demand and improvement in the external position.

    The recent Balance of Payment numbers show that Pakistan’s current account deficit decreased by 19 per cent YoY to USD 1.9 billion during first two months of the current fiscal year, as against a deficit of USD 2.4 billion during the same period last year.

    This YoY decline is mainly on the back of lower imports and jump in exports. With the measures taken by the authorities to curb import along with decline in international commodity prices, current account deficit is likely to remain lower in FY23 compared to FY22’s Current Account Deficit (CAD).

    As a result of a contained CAD and disbursement from IMF post successful completion of seventh and eighth review, Pakistani Rupee (PKR) showed recovery against USD in August 2022 which, however, was short-lived and the following month (September 2022), PKR depreciated 4.2 per cent against USD.

    However, SBP believes that Pakistan’s external financing needs should be more than fully met in FY23 aided by rollovers by bilateral official creditors, new lending from multilateral creditors, and a combination of bond issuances, FDI and portfolio inflows.

    Thus, pressure on the Rupee should lessen while foreign exchange reserves of the SBP should assume the upward trajectory which currently stand at USD 8 billion as of September 23, 2022.

    In addition, another positive development since the last MPC meeting has been the decline in international prices of major commodities such as WTI (-12 per cent), Coal (-14 per cent), Brent (-9 per cent), Steel (-2 per cent), Cotton (-18 per cent) and Arab Light (-6 per cent). This bodes well for our external account position, hence providing much needed relief to our trade numbers.

    On the domestic front, most of the high frequency (demand) indicators showed moderation to decline in growth on a YoY basis. Attributable to monetary and fiscal tightening, which helped shrink the positive output gap and curtail demand side pressures, we saw decline in sales of petroleum products (-23 per cent YoY), cement (-8 per cent YoY), DAP (-79 per cent YoY) and power generation (-12.6 per cent YoY). Moreover, with recent flood damaged agriculture growth, lower yields of cotton and seasonal crops could weigh on growth this year.

    As mentioned in the last MPS, SBP is closely monitoring the inflation trajectory. On the inflationary front, the headline inflation continues to remain in the double digit since November 2021 mainly on the back of uptick in food and energy prices.

    In the month of September 2022, headline inflation clocked-in at 23.2 per cent YoY. However, on MoM basis, inflation receded by 1.15 per cent mainly due to cut in electricity cost.

    Headline inflation, after peaking in August 2022, has started to taper off. Moreover, it is expected to have peaked in the out-going quarter of FY23 and is likely to come down with high base-effect kicking-in.

  • Dollar slips to PKR 225.50 in early interbank trading

    Dollar slips to PKR 225.50 in early interbank trading

    KARACHI: US dollar slipped against Pakistani Rupee (PKR) by 1.79 to PKR 225.50 in early trading at interbank foreign exchange market on Tuesday.

    The dollar is being traded at PKR 225.50 as compared with the last day’s closing of PKR 227.29 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Experts said that latest statement of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar helped the rupee to make gain.

    The finance minister a day earlier said that the local unit is undervalued and actual value of dollar is below PKR 200. Furthermore, he vowed to bring down the value of the greenback in coming days.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    It is worth mentioning that the rupee is constantly gaining value against the dollar since the nomination and assumption the charge of finance ministry by Ishaq Dar.

    The PKR a day earlier continued its upward journey against the greenback and strengthened for seventh consecutive session.

    The rupee made a gain of PKR 1.16 to end at PKR 227.29 against the dollar as compared with last Friday’s closing of PKR 228.45 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The local unit gained PKR 12.42 against the dollar during the last five sessions. The exchange rate reached a record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 227.29 on October 01, 2022.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

    It is worth mentioning that the local unit recorded the all-time low level of PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022. Although after the IMF deal the rupee appreciated against the dollar but following the disbursement of funds under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) the rupee again witnessed a steep decline to reach near to the record low at PKR 239.71 to the dollar on September 22, 2022.

    READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session

    Khurram Schehzad, a senior analyst, said the finance minister should not talk about setting currency parity, or at least not that openly, as its purely the prerogative of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and we have committed this in writing with the IMF that no one, at least from the ministry of finance will intervene in any way into the central bank matters.

    “We should rather hold SBP accountable for achieving realistic currency parity (in line with fundamentals) as well as taming inflation (demand side), while managing the supply-side disruptions by a thorough strategy (farm to market management with necessary imports in time),” he added.

    READ MORE: PKR strengthens sharply to dollar during last three sessions

  • Dollar’s actual value less than PKR 200: Ishaq Dar

    Dollar’s actual value less than PKR 200: Ishaq Dar

    ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said that the actual value of the US dollar is less than Pakistani Rupee (PKR) 200 and he vowed to bring down the exchange rate.

    Talking to a private news channel, the finance minister the local currency is undervalued.

    READ MORE: PKR continues upward journey for seventh consecutive session against dollar

    It is worth mentioning that the rupee is constantly gaining value against the dollar since the nomination and assumption the charge of finance ministry by Ishaq Dar.

    The PKR on Monday continued its upward journey against the greenback and strengthened for seventh consecutive session.

    The rupee made a gain of PKR 1.16 to end at PKR 227.29 against the dollar as compared with last Friday’s closing of PKR 228.45 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The local unit gained PKR 12.42 against the dollar during the last five sessions. The exchange rate reached a record low of PKR 239.71 on September 22, 2022 to the dollar but ended at PKR 227.29 on October 01, 2022.

    READ MORE: Rupee gains for sixth straight session against dollar; recovers PKR 11.26

    It is worth mentioning that the local unit recorded the all-time low level of PKR 239.94 to the dollar on July 28, 2022. Although after the IMF deal the rupee appreciated against the dollar but following the disbursement of funds under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) the rupee again witnessed a steep decline to reach near to the record low at PKR 239.71 to the dollar on September 22, 2022.

    READ MORE: PKR makes recovery against dollar for fourth straight session

    Khurram Schehzad, a senior analyst, said the finance minister should not talk about setting currency parity, or at least not that openly, as its purely the prerogative of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and we have committed this in writing with the IMF that no one, at least from the ministry of finance will intervene in any way into the central bank matters.

    “We should rather hold SBP accountable for achieving realistic currency parity (in line with fundamentals) as well as taming inflation (demand side), while managing the supply-side disruptions by a thorough strategy (farm to market management with necessary imports in time),” he added.

    READ MORE: PKR strengthens sharply to dollar during last three sessions