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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.

  • Rupee recovers nine paisas in interbank

    Rupee recovers nine paisas in interbank

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee recovered nine paisas against the dollar on Friday owing to reduction in requirement of statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) for exchange companies.

    The rupee ended Rs153.36 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs153.45 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee was continuously deteriorating against the dollar on resumption of trading after Eid holidays.

    Currency experts said that a day earlier the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reduced the requirement of SLR from 25 percent to 15 percent for exchange companies in order to facilitate inflow of home remittances through banking channels.

    Further, the experts said that the inflows of export receipt also helped the rupee to make gain.

    They said that the dollar may rebound in coming days due to payment demand for imports and corporate sector.

  • SBP cuts SLR requirement for exchange companies to 15pc

    SBP cuts SLR requirement for exchange companies to 15pc

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday reduced the requirement of Statutory Liquidity Reserve (SLR) for exchange companies from 25 percent to 15 percent in order to channelize home remittances and foreign exchange.

    In a statement the central bank said it had revised SLR requirement of exchange companies from 25 percent to 15 percent of their capital. The enhanced liquidity with exchange companies will enable them to further channelize home remittances and foreign exchange. 

    During the year ended June 2020 Exchange Companies, through their tie up arrangements abroad, have channelized home remittances of $1.44 billion, while this figure stands at $1.67 billion for ten months of current year i.e. 2020/2021.

    This regulatory intervention of State Bank would provide increased liquidity to Exchange Companies to enable them to play their role in increasing the remittances flow and the public will be further facilitated in timely and conveniently receiving home remittances from more than 1,200 outlets of Exchange Companies across Pakistan.   

    At present, out of twenty-seven exchange companies of ‘A’ category, 18 exchange companies are providing home remittances services.

  • SBP cancels exchange company license on regulatory violation

    SBP cancels exchange company license on regulatory violation

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday cancelled the license of an exchange company for violation the regulatory provisions.

    The SBP said it cancelled the license of M/s Karwan Exchange Company ‘B’ (Pvt.) Limited on account of violations of SBP’s regulations.

    The said exchange company, including its head office and branches have been debarred from undertaking any kind of foreign exchange related business activity.

  • Fall in rupee value continues

    Fall in rupee value continues

    KARACHI: Deterioration in Pak Rupee continued on Thursday owing to demand for import and corporate payments.

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  • SBP issues annual schedule for monetary policy

    SBP issues annual schedule for monetary policy

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the first time issued annual schedule for announcement of monetary policy, a statement said on Thursday.

    The SBP said that taking another step towards making the process of monetary policy formulation more predictable and transparent, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to begin announcing a half-yearly schedule of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings on a rolling basis. In this regard, the dates for the next four meetings are envisaged as follows:

    May MPC meeting: Friday, 28th May 2021

    July MPC meeting: Tuesday, 27th July 2021

    September MPC meeting: Monday, 20th September 2021

    November MPC meeting: Friday, 26th November 2021

    It is pertinent to mention that a minimum of 6 MPC meetings are scheduled every year. In addition, the MPC can convene emergency meetings during the intervening period, if required.

    In taking this step, SBP is following international best practices. To manage expectations of economic agents, many central banks across the globe release the schedule of Monetary Policy Committee meetings in advance. This practice is consistent with the objective of reducing uncertainty around monetary policy decision making.

    Clear communication helps to make central banks more transparent, and thereby contributes to enhancing their accountability. Central bank communication and transparency are also key for effective transmission of monetary policy decisions. In this context, SBP has over the years been seeking to modernize and increase transparency in the monetary policy making process, in line with international best practices. Some of these initiatives are laid out below:

    In 2005, SBP began releasing Monetary Policy Statements.

    In 2009, it was decided to hold at least 6 meetings on monetary policy, envisaged to take place in the calendar months of January, March, May, July, September and November. It was also decided to hold a press conference to announce the monetary policy decision in the months of January and July, to supplement the Monetary Policy Statement.

    In 2015, after the introduction of an independent Monetary Policy Committee through an amendment in the SBP Act, two major changes were introduced to increase transparency. First, SBP started publishing minutes of the MPC meetings on its website. Second, the voting pattern of the MPC members was also made public.

    In 2020, to make monetary policy communication more effective, SBP enhanced interactions with analysts, the media, various business forums, academics, and investors through regular briefing sessions with its senior management.

    In January 2021, in light of the extreme uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic, the MPC decided to provide forward guidance on monetary policy for the first time to facilitate policy predictability and decision-making by economic agents.

    Looking forward, SBP remains committed to continue modernizing its communication in line with international best practices and evolving domestic circumstances.

  • Rupee weakens by 33 paisas on import payment demand

    Rupee weakens by 33 paisas on import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee weakened by 33 paisas against the dollar on Wednesday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee closed at Rs153.22 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs152.89 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee recorded a decline of 95 paisas against the dollar since resumption of trading after Eid Holidays. The government had announced Eid Holidays from May 10, 2021 to May 15, 2021, which followed Sunday on May 16, 2021.

    Currency experts said that due to extended Eid holidays the rupee was remained under pressure.

    They also said that ease in restriction related to coronavirus also encouraged importers to place orders to their foreign buyers.

    They, however, said that the record inflows of workers’ remittances and export receipts the local currency would make gain in coming days.

  • Rupee ends down by 29 paisas against dollar

    Rupee ends down by 29 paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 29 paisas against the dollar on Tuesday owing to demand of the foreign currency for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs152.89 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs152.60 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the demand for the dollar was seen from importers and corporate buyers after the Eid holidays.

    The experts however said that the local unit might recover the losses in coming days due to significant rise in workers’ remittances and export receipts.

  • Remittances hit all-time monthly high of $2.8bn in April

    Remittances hit all-time monthly high of $2.8bn in April

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said that the inflow of workers’ remittances rose to an all-time monthly high of $2.8 billion in April 2021, which is 56 percent higher than during the same month last year.

    On a cumulative basis, remittances have also surpassed previous records. At $ 24.2 billion in July-April FY21, remittances grew by 29 percent over the same period last year and have already crossed the full FY20 level by more than $1 billion.

    Remittance inflows during July-April FY21 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($6.4 billion), United Arab Emirates ($5.1 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3 billion) and the United States ($2.2 billion).

    Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to encourage more inflows through formal channels, curtailed cross border travel in the face of COVID-19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, orderly foreign exchange market conditions and, more recently, Eid-related inflows have contributed to record levels of remittances this year.

  • Rupee ends down by 33 paisas on extended Eid holidays

    Rupee ends down by 33 paisas on extended Eid holidays

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee fell by 33 paisas on Monday owing to higher demand from import and corporate buyers as the market was opened after 10-day Eid holidays.

    The rupee ended Rs152.60 to the dollar from previous closing on May 07, 2021 at Rs152.27 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the market witnessed demand from importers and corporate buyers for making payments. They said that the demand pressure came on the foreign currency because the market was remained closed for past 10 days due to Eid Holidays.

    The experts said that the local currency likely to gain in coming days due to strong inflows of remittances and export receipts.

  • SBP revises banking hours for public dealing

    SBP revises banking hours for public dealing

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revised banking hours for public dealings effective from Monday May 17, 2021.

    The SBP said that as per new schedule the banks and microfinance banks to observed following banking hours for public dealing:

    Monday to Thursday: 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM

    Friday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

    The SBP said that banks may prescribe banking hours as per the requirement with the minimum benchmark of SBP (BSC) set for the purpose.

    Previously, through a notification issued on April 28, 2021, the SBP revised the banking hours in line with the decision of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) to contain the spread of COVID-19.

    The previous banking hours were:

    Monday to Thursday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM (without break)

    Friday: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM (without break).

    The SBP further said that and all other banks will revert to normal office hours effective from May 17, 2021.

    Monday to Thurs: 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

    Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.