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.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee (PKR) has recorded a massive decline of 30 per cent against the dollar during fiscal year 2021/2022, according to data made available to PkRevenue.com on Thursday.
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KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said it launched a series of videos about agriculture financing products for farmers.
The central bank in a statement said it had launched a series of videos in national and regional languages about agriculture financing products and procedures to create awareness among the farming communities across the country, especially in the underserved areas.
READ MORE: Meezan Bank installs 1000th ATM
These videos will be disseminated through social media and digital platforms of SBP and all agriculture lending banks.
Lack of awareness among farmers about agriculture financing products and services remains one of the challenges for banks to access rural markets and extend outreach of formal financial services to the farming communities.
Capacity building & awareness creation is, therefore, an important area of focus amongst SBP’s various initiatives for promotion and development of agriculture financing in the country.
READ MORE: Pakistan banks to remain closed on July 01, 2022
SBP has been organizing various awareness and capacity building programs for farmers; however, farming communities still lack awareness at the grassroots level to avail and optimally utilize formal financial services.
In order to address this lack of awareness and to broaden the scope of SBP’s campaigns, the potential of digital media is being explored.
Rapid penetration of internet and increased usage of smartphones across the country has presented an opportunity to harness digital platforms for disseminating information instead of relying on conventional awareness sessions, which have limited outreach.
The use of digital medium is not only helpful in spreading the message to a wider audience in a timely and cost effective way, but also enables such messages to have higher rate of comprehension and retention.
The first video in this series covers the overall agriculture financing landscape of the country, SBP’s initiatives and GoP’s schemes, all from a farmer’s perspective.
READ MORE: Standard Chartered facilitated by BenchMatrix
Keeping in view the need for enhancing accessibility of credit in the diverse underserved areas, this video has also been translated into three regional languages apart from Urdu, i.e. Sindhi, Balochi and Pashto.
The next two videos in the series focus on crop and non-crop sector, including information regarding agriculture loan products, and diving deeper into the procedures and documentation required for both segments.
READ MORE: Pakistan-issued prize bonds expire on June 30, 2022
It is expected that these videos will help the farming community to overcome their reluctance in availing credit from banks.
Moreover, to augment SBP’s initiative and achieve greater reach, agriculture lending banks will also share these videos on their respective social and digital media channels which will encourage banks to develop similar informative videos on product and financing opportunities to agro-based businesses as well.
KARACHI: Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank, has installed its 1,000th Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
This landmark cash dispensing terminal has been installed at Chashma in District Mianwali, a press statement said on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Meezan Bank leads Rs1 bn finance for solar project
Since its inception, the Bank has expanded its ATMs across Pakistan’s rural and semi-urban regions, providing round-the-clock access to cash and furthering basic banking and financial inclusion for the masses.
The bank’s ATMs enable access to NFC-enabled and bio-metric transactions, cash deposit into own and other bank accounts and integration with various digital wallets while also operating on solar power and consuming significantly less energy than conventional machines.
READ MORE: Meezan Bank, SNGPL sign deal for digital bill collection
As the only bank in the country to offer the fastest debit card activation service through its ATM terminals, the Bank is also the first in the industry to allow withdrawals up to Rs100,000 in a single transaction.
“Meezan Bank is committed to grow its state-of-the-art ATM network across Pakistan while offering the highest standards of ATM services with the best up-time in the industry,” said Shariq Mubeen, Head Alternate Distribution Channels, Meezan Bank.
READ MORE: Meezan Bank provides bill discounting facility for Huawei
KARACHI: Pakistan Rupee (PKR) gained Rs1.75 against the US dollar on Wednesday to close at Rs205.12 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The exchange rate witnessed an appreciation of Rs1.75 to Rs205.12 against the dollar from previous day close of Rs206.87 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Rupee recovers sharply on expected IMF inflows
The rupee is making recovery during the last two days after the country received $2.3 billion from Chinese banks. Furthermore, reports of finalization of agreement between Pakistan and IMF also supported the rupee. The country is expecting an inflow of around $1.9 billion from the IMF.
These inflows would help the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to improve its foreign exchange reserves.
The rupee fell to the all-time low at Rs211.93 to the dollar on June 22, 2022.
The official foreign exchange reserves of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have decreased around 32-month low at $8.238 billion by week ended June 17, 2022. The official reserves of the central bank fell by $747 million to $8.238 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 as compared with $8.985 billion by week ended June 10, 2022.
READ MORE: Rupee falls 46 paisas to dollar despite Chinese inflows
Previously, the foreign exchange reserves of the SBP were seen on November 01, 2019 when those were at $8.358 billion.
Considering the current official reserves of the State Bank at $8.238 billion, the import cover is only for 1.21 months.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since touching the peak the central bank’s foreign exchange witnessed a continuous decline. The official reserves of the SBP fell around $11.91 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 from touching the peak on August 27, 2021.
READ MORE: Dollar gains 25 paisas to PKR on forex reserves decline
The total foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have declined to around three-year low at $14.21 billion by week ended June 17, 2022. Previously, the foreign exchange reserves of the country were seen at $14.259 billion by week ended July 5, 2019. The country’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen by $733 million to $14.21 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 as compared with $14.943 billion a week ago i.e. June 10, 2022.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $13.018 billion.
The rupee remained under pressure against the greenback during the current fiscal year. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has taken various measures to support balance of payment and the local currency. However, the measures ended in a failure to help the rupee to recover losses.
READ MORE: Dollar retreats to Rs207.23 at interbank closing
The SBP on May 23, 2022 announced a sharp increase in policy rate by 150 basis points to 13.75 per cent from 12.25 per cent.
In addition to that the government announced a complete ban on imports to support balance of payment and help the rupee to stabilize. But all these measures appeared in failure as the exchange rate yet again deteriorated today massively.
KARACHI: Pakistan banks will observe holiday on July 01, 2022 for financial close, a statement said on Wednesday.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a circular in this regard addressing the president and chief executives of all banks, development financial institutions and microfinance banks.
READ MORE: Standard Chartered facilitated by BenchMatrix
The central bank said it will remain closed for public dealing on Friday, July 1, 2022 which shall be observed as Bank Holiday enabling the Bank to close its accounts.
READ MORE: Pakistan-issued prize bonds expire on June 30, 2022
All banks / Development Financial Institutions (FDIs) / Microfinance Banks (MFBs) shall, therefore, remain closed for public dealing on the aforementioned date.
However, employees of the banks / DFIs / MFBs will attend the office as usual.
READ MORE: SBP seeks Supreme Court guidance on Riba case judgement
KARACHI: BenchMatrix has successfully facilitated Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan (SCBPL) in the installation and implementation of its RiskNucleus GRC, with the goal to digitize the Bank’s compliance risk management processes.
The implementation of this comprehensive solution will assist Standard Chartered in holistically managing compliance processes and ensure regulatory compliance. The solution is a well-integrated system that allows risk managers to effectively assess and monitor identified risks and controls within the organization. The solution includes modules for management of regulatory change, risk assessment, regulatory correspondence, review observations and overall consolidated risk calculation, while enabling cross modular linkages and comprehensive functionalities.
Commenting at the occasion Rehan Shaikh, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Pakistan said, “Our unwavering focus on managing risk and continued investment in building controls in an era of digitization and automation has led us to actualize this deployment. We are hopeful that the implementation of this comprehensive yet simplified solution will help the Bank grow its business sustainably, whilst effectively managing compliance processes and regulatory expectations.
On the occasion Taimur Kaleem, CEO of BenchMatrix, Pakistan said, “I would like to congratulate both teams on successful completion of the project. RiskNucleus GRC will help to reduce the overall cost of compliance, fulfil regulatory requirements and eradicate operational gaps through automation of the Bank’s robust compliance framework.”
RiskNucleus GRC solution is a web-based, modular fully configurable and integrated application that streamlines the process of Governance, Risk and Compliance, according to the organization’s needs.
BenchMatrix is now one of the leading solution provider for Governance, Risk & Compliance solution, serving almost 60+ clients globally with offices in Canada, KSA, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait & Pakistan. It implements all its products with efficiency to ensure accelerated deployment timelines, owing to a vastly experienced staff in both, banking operations and project implementations globally.
KARACHI: The Pakistan Rupee (PKR) made sharp recovery of Rs1.07 against the dollar on Tuesday amid expectation of $2 billion inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The exchange rate ended at Rs206.87 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs207.94 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Rupee falls 46 paisas to dollar despite Chinese inflows
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier in the day said that a significant amount was expected from the IMF.
“Miftah Ismail [the finance minister] sent a message this morning saying that Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the IMF. I told him in response, Alhamdulillah, but our ultimate goal is self-reliance,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister announced shortly after Ismail confirmed Pakistan had received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.
The rupee was remained under pressure due to high import payments and falling foreign exchange reserves. Recently, Pakistan received about $2.3 billion from China.
The rupee fell to the all-time low at Rs211.93 to the dollar on June 22, 2022.
READ MORE: Dollar gains 25 paisas to PKR on forex reserves decline
The official foreign exchange reserves of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have decreased around 32-month low at $8.238 billion by week ended June 17, 2022. The official reserves of the central bank fell by $747 million to $8.238 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 as compared with $8.985 billion by week ended June 10, 2022.
Previously, the foreign exchange reserves of the SBP were seen on November 01, 2019 when those were at $8.358 billion.
Considering the current official reserves of the State Bank at $8.238 billion, the import cover is only for 1.21 months.
The central bank attributed the decline in foreign exchange reserves for external debt repayments. However, SBP reserves are expected to increase in coming days on realization of proceeds of China Development Bank (CDB) loan.
READ MORE: Dollar retreats to Rs207.23 at interbank closing
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since touching the peak the central bank’s foreign exchange witnessed a continuous decline. The official reserves of the SBP fell around $11.91 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 from touching the peak on August 27, 2021.
The total foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have declined to around three-year low at $14.21 billion by week ended June 17, 2022. Previously, the foreign exchange reserves of the country were seen at $14.259 billion by week ended July 5, 2019. The country’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen by $733 million to $14.21 billion by week ended June 17, 2022 as compared with $14.943 billion a week ago i.e. June 10, 2022.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $13.018 billion.
READ MORE: Rupee slips to new low at Rs211.93 against dollar
The rupee remained under pressure against the greenback during the current fiscal year. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has taken various measures to support balance of payment and the local currency. However, the measures ended in a failure to help the rupee to recover losses.
The SBP on May 23, 2022 announced a sharp increase in policy rate by 150 basis points to 13.75 per cent from 12.25 per cent.
Recently the government announced a complete ban on imports to support balance of payment and help the rupee to stabilize. But all these measures appeared in failure as the exchange rate yet again deteriorated today massively.
KARACHI: The prize bonds of various denominations issued by the government of Pakistan are expiring on June 30, 2022.
So far no decision came from the finance ministry to extend the last date for exchanging bearer prize bonds. The federal government has already extended the last date for converting or exchanging the bearer prize bonds up to June 30, 2022.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a circular on March 30, 2022 to extend the date up to June 30, 2022 for exchanging or converting the bearer prize bonds including denominations of Rs40,000/- Rs25,000/-, Rs15,000/- and Rs7,500.
Earlier, the last date for exchanging the bearer prize bonds was March 31, 2022.
READ MORE: SBP directs banks to accept bearer prize bonds
The SBP instructed the banks to accept requests for encashment / conversion / redemption of cited denominations from general public till June 30, 2022.
“Further, the banks shall submit branch / region wise consolidated data of cited denomination national prize bonds held by them on last date i.e. June 30, 2022 latest by July 04, 2022, as per the instructions stipulated in aforementioned CMD Circulars.
READ MORE: Prize bond (bearer) holders given 3 months to document
The finance ministry launched the withdrawal of the unregistered prize bonds in a phased manner. The federal government on June 24, 2019, announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds. Similarly, on December 10, 2020, the government announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs25,000 denomination prize bonds. In April 2021, the finance ministry announced that national prize bonds of denominations Rs7,500 and Rs15,000 shall not be sold.
Since June 2019 the government repeatedly extended the date for exchanging the bearer bonds. Previously, the last date for exchanging the unregistered bonds was December 31, 2021.
READ MORE: History of Prize Bonds in Pakistan
The government is aiming to document the bearer bonds so the exchanging the unregistered bond with cash has been prohibited. The ministry of finance issued various procedure to convert the bond without exchanging with the cash.
The bonds can be converted to premium prize bonds (registered) of denomination of Rs25,000 and Rs40,000 (subject to the adjustment of differential amount) through 16 field offices of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Banking Services Corporation (BSC), and branches of six commercial banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, and Bank Alfalah Limited.
READ MORE: Income tax on prize bonds, lottery winning
The bonds can be replaced with Special Saving Certificates/Defence Saving Certificates through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, authorized commercial banks, and the National Savings Center.
The bonds will only be encashed by transferring the proceeds to the bonds holder’s bank account through the 16 field offices of SBP BSC as well as the authorized commercial bank branches and to the Saving Accounts at National Savings Centers.
KARACHI: The Pakistan Rupee (PKR) fell 46 paisas against the US dollar on Monday despite inflows received from China.
(more…)KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday said it had approached Shariat Appelate Bench of the Supreme Court for guidance on decision of Federal Shariat Court in Riba case.
In a statement the central bank said the SBP welcomes the Federal Shariat Court’s Judgement of April 28, 2022 on Riba case, as has already been done by the Honorable Finance Minister. In particular, we appreciate the substantive part of the decision.
READ MORE: IPS demands implementation of court judgment on Riba
As the prime custodian and regulator of the financial and monetary framework of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, SBP is deeply committed to ensuring compliance with the injunctions of Islam, in particular those pertaining to riba, while protecting the stability and security of the financial sector of the country that functions as part of the global financial system.
In this context, SBP has always remained at the forefront in promoting Islamic banking in the country. SBP is among the few regulators across the globe where comprehensive legal, regulatory and Shariah Governance frameworks have been successfully developed and implemented.
READ MORE: Court judgment: Riba is Haram in any form
Currently, 22 Islamic Banking Institutions (5 full- fledged Islamic banks and 17 conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches) with a branch network of 3,983 branches along with 1,418 Islamic banking windows (Islamic banking counters at conventional branches) are operational across the country. The industry now accounts for 19.4 percent of the country’s overall banking system in terms of assets while in terms of deposits the share is 20 percent (as of March 31, 2022).
READ MORE: FSC reserves judgment in Riba free banking case
In addition, SBP has also been taking measures to bring the legal and regulatory infrastructure in compliance with Shariah principles.
After detailed review of the judgment and based upon the advice of our Chief Legal Adviser and external counsel, we have sought guidance from the honorable Shariat Appelate Bench of the Supreme Court in terms of its implementation and practicalities involved.