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.
The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) continued its downward trend against the US Dollar on Thursday, depreciating by 79 paisas in the interbank market. The rupee closed at Rs160.62 against the dollar, compared to the previous day’s rate of Rs159.83, as demand surged for import and corporate payments.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said that listing of local firms on the world leading online marketplace, Amazon.com likely help to increase exports of the country.
The central bank while discussing the digital connectivity at the time of coronavirus pandemic, said the Ministry of Commerce has facilitated enlisting more than 30 exporters on the world’s leading online marketplace, Amazon.com, on a trial basis.
“On a successful completion of the test-run, this will provide an opportunity to more domestic firms to sell via Amazon and expand their outreach to global markets. This could potentially open a new avenue for Pakistan to increase its exports and create new employment opportunities locally,” the SBP said.
Going forward, the cross-border B2C ecommerce regulatory framework developed by the SBP and the Web Based One Customs e-commerce module that is to be developed by the FBR, will help facilitate online sales of exporting firms by allowing hassle-free documentation and shipment of export orders.
The SBP said that Pakistani authorities have been proactively working on the digitization front during the past half-decade or so; positive developments include the approval of the country’s first ever e-commerce policy in 2019.
The policy aims to provide an enabling environment to private businesses, create new employment opportunities for youth and women, and provide an opportunity to the government to regulate the e-commerce sector in the public interest.
To track the implementation of the policy and to facilitate e-commerce businesses, a National Ecommerce Council (NEEC) has also been established.
Its main functions are to monitor and support the advancement of e-commerce in the private sector, foster innovation in the implementation of the necessary programs and initiatives, create awareness of the importance of e-commerce towards the overall growth in the economy, and provide relevant feedback and recommendations to the government.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee weakened by Rs1.53 against dollar on Wednesday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments.
The rupee ended Rs159.83 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs158.30 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency dealers said that the market witnessed higher demand for dollars during the day. They said that after government announcement of not imposing strict lockdown the importers were relaxed in placing orders to their foreign suppliers.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday allowed non-resident individuals holding Pakistan Origin Card (POC) to open foreign currency account.
The SBP said that as per FE circular No. 02 dated August 05, 2020, a non resident individuals is eligible to open foreign currency account.
The SBP clarified that an individual non-resident, holding Pakistan Origin Card (POC) is also eligible to open FCVA.
Accordingly, the existing Para 2 sub-para (i (a)) of the above Circular has been replaced with the following:
“Individual non-resident Pakistani and non-resident holding Pakistan Origin Card (POC).”
Consequently, all the provisions of FE Circular 2 of 2020 applicable to individual non-resident Pakistani shall also be applicable to non-resident holding Pakistan Origin Card (POC).
Moreover, in terms of Para 7, Chapter 22 of the Foreign Exchange Manual, Authorized Dealers are required to report inward remittance transactions, except for family maintenance and exports, exceeding USD 10,000/- on Form “R” to SBP.
In this regard, it is advised that instead of asking the customer to provide duly filled in Form ‘R’, the bank receiving remittances in FCVA exceeding USD 10,000, or equivalent thereof, may digitally obtain the information, required for filling Form “R”, from the customer/remitting bank, if not already available in the transaction detail, for the purpose of reporting of transactions to SBP.
Through another circular, the SBP clarified that non-resident holding POC also eligible for opening Rupee Value Account (NRVA).
Consequently, all the provisions of FE Circular 01 of 2020 applicable to non-resident Pakistani shall also be applicable to non-resident holding Pakistan Origin Card (POC).
Further, as per Para 7, Chapter 10 of the FE Manual, any person who wishes to purchase foreign exchange must lodge an application with an Authorized Dealer on Form ‘M’ for seeking approval to effect outward remittance.
However, in case of NRVA, since no approval is required to NRVA holder for repatriating the funds from his/her account, therefore Form ‘M’ may not be required for payment/ repatriation of funds from NRVA. Nonetheless, Authorized Dealers shall continue to report outward remittances under the specified purpose code through monthly foreign exchange returns to SBP as per the existing procedure.
KARACHI – The Pakistani Rupee faced a decline of 13 paisas against the US Dollar on Tuesday, closing at Rs158.30 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee eased against the dollar on Monday after maintaining a 23-day gaining streak. The rupee ended at Rs158.17 to the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs158.16 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed to reduce the history of write-off/waived loans and advances for corporate borrowers from 15 years to 10 years.
A statement issued on Thursday, the central bank said it had decided to reduce the reflection period of written off/waived loans and advances for corporate borrowers in the Electronic Credit Information Bureau (eCIB) of SBP from 15 years to 10 years.
eCIB is a repository of information about the credit history of borrowers of the banking system and is largely used by banks/Financial Institutions to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers.
This decision follows a detailed assessment of international practices.
It has been a general impression that reflecting the negative history/ write-off for a longer period might deprive the borrowers of a fresh start and would exclude borrowers from access to finance for longer periods (following the write-offs/waivers) regardless of the borrowers’ current financial performance and other favorable information.
It may be noted that various business bodies and Chamber Members frequently also raised such concerns.
They were of the view that placing a one-time write-off/waiver in eCIB for 15 years is a long period particularly when a business has paid back or settled its transaction with the bank. It creates difficulties for businesses in availing fresh financing for a long time.
Decreasing the reflection period to 10 years will bring our system in line with the international practice and provide a conducive business environment to boost economic activities besides helping to improve the country ranking in the Ease of Doing Survey conducted by the World Bank periodically.
Credit Information Bureau/Credit registry (eCIB) is one of the supervisory tools used worldwide to assist the supervisors in off-site supervision and on-site examinations.
SBP established its Credit Registry i.e. eCIB in 1992 with the objective to complement its role of prudential supervision and assessment of the risk monitoring functions of its regulated FIs.
Since then, the eCIB of SBP has evolved from manual to modern electronic online credit reporting system fueled by improvements in system and technology.
The existing eCIB system is not only helping in the expansion of credit but also enabling FIs to move from the traditional subjective approach of granting credit to a more efficient lending process.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan has banned online payment for subscribing Indian entertainment content. In a circular issued to all banks, the SBP directed to block the payment to Indian content.
The central bank said that the decision had been taken on the directives of federal cabinet to stop different modes of payments including credit cards for subscribing Indian content in Pakistan including Zee5 video-on-demand service.
“In this regard, it is advised to ensure meticulous compliance of aforementioned instructions of the government of Pakistan and submit compliance status to PSD, SBP by November 13, 2020,” the central bank said.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee made another gain of Rs16 paisas against dollar on Thursday owing to healthy inflows of workers’ remittances during the current fiscal year.
The rupee ended Rs158.33 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs158.49 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency dealers said that the inflows of workers’ remittances during the current fiscal year helped the rupee to make gain.
Further, the importers are cautious in purchasing dollars due to the second phase of coronavirus.
The inflow of workers’ remittances has sharply increased by 26.5 percent to $9.43 billion during first four months (July – October) of current fiscal year 2020/2021. The central bank received $7.45 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year.
The SBP said that remittances remained above $2 billion for the fifth consecutive month in October 2020.
Workers’ remittances amounted to $ 2.3 billion during October 2020, increasing by 14.1 percent compared to October 2019.
A large part of y/y increase in October 2020 was sourced from Saudi Arabia (30 percent), United States (16 percent) and United Kingdom (14.6 percent).
Improvements in Pakistan’s FX market structure and its dynamics, efforts under the Pakistan Remittances Initiative (PRI) to formalize the flows contributed to the growth in remittances and limited cross-border travelling, the SBP said.
