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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.

  • Women entrepreneurs to get loan up to Rs5 million: SBP

    Women entrepreneurs to get loan up to Rs5 million: SBP

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to enhance the limit of loan for women entrepreneurs up to Rs5 million from Rs1.5 million in order to encourage women participation in the economy.

    In a statement issued on Tuesday the central bank said that it had enhanced the financing limit under its Refinance and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs from Rs1.5 million to Rs5 million.

    The decision has been taken in light of feedback received from various stakeholders about current financing limit being insufficient to cover the financing needs of women entrepreneurs, the SBP said.

    This decision is in line with the government policy to support and revive economic activities in the country and SBP’s key objective of improving access to finance for priority segments including women entrepreneurs.

    Initially in August 2017, State Bank had introduced Refinance and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs in underserved areas to promote financial inclusion and access to finance for women entrepreneurs in the country.

    Subsequently, the scope of scheme was enhanced to cover whole of Pakistan.

    Under this scheme, SBP provides refinance to participating financial institutions at 0 percent on their financing to women entrepreneurs at maximum end user rate of 5 percent. Moreover, 60 percent risk coverage is also available to the participating institutions.

    The enhancement in financing limit under SBP scheme is expected to increase financial inclusion of women since more women entrepreneurs are likely to be attracted for setting up of new businesses or for expanding the scope of their existing businesses by availing concessional financing under SBP scheme.

  • Rupee eases amid record monthly inflows of remittances

    Rupee eases amid record monthly inflows of remittances

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by two paisas against dollar on Tuesday amid record remittances received by the central bank.

    The rupee ended Rs168.19 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs168.17 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that reports of record remittances received by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) helped the rupee to avoid significant depreciation against the foreign currency.

    The inflow of workers’ remittances hit monthly record high of $2.77 billion in July 2020.

    In July, workers’ remittances rose to US $ 2.768 billion. “This is the highest ever level of remittances in a single month in Pakistan,” according to the SBP.

    In terms of growth, remittances increased by 36.5 percent over July 2019 (y/y) and 12.2 percent over June 2020 (m/m). Given the impact of Covid-19 globally, this increase in worker’s remittances is encouraging.

  • Rupee ends down by 24 paisas against dollar

    Rupee ends down by 24 paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 24 paisas against dollar on Monday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments as market opened after long holidays.

    The rupee ended Rs168.17 to the dollar as against the closing of August 13, 2020 at Rs167.93 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the market was opened after three holidays and it resulted in higher demand for import and corporate payments.

    The market was remained closed on August 14, 2020 on account of Independence Day and further two days closure due to weekly holidays.

    The experts said that the local unit likely to rebound in coming days on back of improved inflows of workers’ remittances and export receipts.

    The inflow of workers’ remittances hit monthly record high of $2.77 billion in July 2020.

    In July, workers’ remittances rose to US $ 2.768 billion. “This is the highest ever level of remittances in a single month in Pakistan,” according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

    In terms of growth, remittances increased by 36.5 percent over July 2019 (y/y) and 12.2 percent over June 2020 (m/m). Given the impact of Covid-19 globally, this increase in worker’s remittances is encouraging.

  • Remittances hit monthly record high: SBP

    Remittances hit monthly record high: SBP

    KARACHI: The inflow of workers’ remittances hit monthly record high of $2.77 billion in July 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.

    In July, workers’ remittances rose to US $ 2.768 billion. “This is the highest ever level of remittances in a single month in Pakistan,” the SBP said.

    In terms of growth, remittances increased by 36.5 percent over July 2019 (y/y) and 12.2 percent over June 2020 (m/m). Given the impact of Covid-19 globally, this increase in worker’s remittances is encouraging.

    In July, sizeable amounts of workers’ remittances were received from Saudi Arabia (US $ 821.6 million), UAE (US $ 538.2 million), UK (US $ 393.9 million) and USA (US $ 250.6 million).

    The growth rate in remittances compared to the same month in the previous year is around twice as high as the Eid-ul-Adha related seasonality typically experienced over the last decade.

    Several factors have likely supported the growth in remittances to date, including orderly exchange rate conditions and policy steps taken by the State Bank and the Federal Government under the Pakistan Remittance Initiative. These steps include reducing the threshold for eligible transactions from USD 200 to USD 100 under the Reimbursement of Telegraphic Transfer (TT) Charges Scheme, an increased push towards adoption of digital channels, and targeted marketing campaigns to promote formal channels for sending remittances.

    To improve data quality and better capture the source country of the remitter, the compilation methodology for ‘country wise’ workers’ remittances has been strengthened from this month. Therefore, country-by-country trends will be available on a consistent basis from August 2020 onwards.

    Importantly, the new data collection method does not affect the reporting of the level of remittances arriving into Pakistan.

    Importantly, the revised country shares under the improved data do not necessarily imply that remittances from one country have increased over another. Instead they demonstrate that the source country of remittances is being recorded more accurately now.

  • Rupee strengthens by 15 paisas on inflows

    Rupee strengthens by 15 paisas on inflows

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained another 15 paisas against dollar on Thursday owing to inflows of export and workers remittances.

    The rupee ended Rs167.93 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs168.08 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency analysts said that the rupee gained value for the third consecutive day. They said that the inflows of export receipts and workers remittances helped the rupee to gain value.

    They further said that lower demand for import payment also helped the local unit.

  • SBP allows transfer of up to $200,000 as payment for foreign digital services

    SBP allows transfer of up to $200,000 as payment for foreign digital services

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to release a maximum amount of $200,000 per year as payment for digital services provided by foreign companies.

    The central bank on Thursday issued a new mechanism for payments to globally recognized digital service provider companies against acquisition of digital services by local companies for ease of doing business in the country.

    The SBP amended Foreign Exchange Manual and allowed general permission to banks to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of USD 200,000/-, or equivalent in other currencies, per year, for each company/ firm/ sole proprietorship incorporated/ established in Pakistan on account of commercial payments, pertaining to digital services, in favor of digital service provider companies.

    The release of payment is limited to foreign companies listed by the SBP, which are included:

    1.  Adobe

    2.  Affinity

    3.  Airtable

    4.  Alibaba Group

    5.  Amazon

    6.  Apple

    7.  AppLovin

    8.  Asana

    9.  Atlassian

    10.  Box

    11.  Calendly

    12.  Coursera

    13. Digital Ocean

    14. DocSend

    15. DocuSign

    16. Dropbox

    17. Expensify

    18. Facebook

    19. Figma

    20. FreshBooks

    21. Front

    22. GoDaddy

    23. Google

    24. Hootsuite

    25. Hubspot

    26. IBM

    27. Instagram

    28. Intercom

    29. InVision

    30. LinkedIn Corporation

    31. Mailchimp

    32. Marketo

    33. Mendix

    34. Microsoft Corporation

    35. Optimizely

    36. Oracle Corporation

    37. Pilot

    38. Pipe Drive

    39. Poynt

    40. Intuit/ QuickBooks

    41. Red Hat/ OpenShift

    42. Sketch

    43. Salesforce

    44. SAP SE / SAP

    45. SEMrush

    46. Shopify

    47. Slack Technologies/Slack

    48. Squarespace

    49. Tencent

    50. Trello

    51. Twilio

    52. Twitter

    53. Udacity

    54. Udemy

    55. VMware

    56. WhatsApp

    57. WordPress

    58. Xero

    59. YouTube

    60. Zapier

    61. Zendesk

    62. Zoom/ Video Communications

    The SBP said that the ultimate beneficiary of remittances should only be the company (including their affiliates or associated entities).

    However, up to a maximum amount of USD 25,000/-, out of the total annual limit of USD 200,000/-, can be remitted to those digital service provider companies which are not listed in the Appendix V 147, against acquisition of digital services.

    The remittances should only be made by an Authorized Dealer designated by the remitter for this purpose under acknowledgement to Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD) SBP-BSC. No Authorized dealer will remit funds under this general permission unless it has been acknowledged as designated Authorized Dealer by the FEOD SBP-BSC.

    The SBP said that the banks will ensure that it has satisfied itself with the genuineness and bonafides of the applicant, through appropriate CDD and customer risk profiling, specifically in light of AML/CFT regulations.

  • Rupee gains 20 paisas on improved export receipts

    Rupee gains 20 paisas on improved export receipts

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 20 paisas against dollar on Wednesday owing to improved inflows of export receipts and workers remittances.

    The rupee ended Rs168.07 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs168.27 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that inflows of export receipts and workers remittances were sufficient to support the local currency and meet demand for import and corporate payments.

    The experts said that the foreign inflows would help the local currency to further appreciate in coming days.

    The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $651 million by week ended July 30, 2020 owing to foreign inflows.

    The total foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $651 million to $19.563 billion by week ended July 30, 2020 as compared with $18.912 billion a week ago.

    The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP increased by $566 million to $12.542 billion by week ended July 20, 2020 as compared with $11.976 billion a week ago.

  • Bank holiday announced

    Bank holiday announced

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday announced that the central bank will remain closed on Friday August 14, 2020 on account of Independence Day as declared by the government.

    In a circular issued to the presidents and chief executives of all banks, development financial institutions and microfinance banks, the SBP informed about the bank holiday.

  • Rupee recovers 11 paisas against dollar

    Rupee recovers 11 paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The rupee recovered 11 paisas against dollar on Tuesday after ease in demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs168.27 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs168.38 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that ease in demand from import and corporate side helped the rupee to recover last day’s losses.

    The experts further said that the foreign inflows received by the central bank during past couple of weeks would help the rupee to further gain the value.

    The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $651 million by week ended July 30, 2020 owing to foreign inflows.

    The total foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $651 million to $19.563 billion by week ended July 30, 2020 as compared with $18.912 billion a week ago.

    The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP increased by $566 million to $12.542 billion by week ended July 20, 2020 as compared with $11.976 billion a week ago.

  • Rupee slips by 50 paisas on import payment demand

    Rupee slips by 50 paisas on import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee has slipped by 50 paisas against dollar on Monday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payment on the first day of the week.

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