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 recovered 22 paisas against dollar in early trade on Thursday.
The dollar is being traded at Rs154.86 in interbank foreign exchange market. The rupee ended at Rs155.08 on Wednesday January 08, 2020.
The rupee was remained pressure with start of the year. The inflows of export receipts and ease in geopolitical tension helped the local currency to recover against the greenback.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee further depreciated by seven paisas against dollar on Wednesday owing to higher import and corporate demands, dealers said.
(more…)KARACHI: The Pak Rupee fell six paisas against dollar on Tuesday owing to demand for import and corporate payments, dealers said.
The rupee ended Rs155.01 to the dollar as compared with Rs154.95 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The dealers said that the rupee was depreciated due to rising demand of dollar for import and corporate payments.
They said that the corporate buyers escalated the demand because of repatriation of profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.
The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs155.00 and Rs155.07. The market recorded day high of Rs155.09 and low of R155.00 and closed at Rs155.01.
The exchange rate in open market witnessed stable value of the local currency. The buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs155.00/Rs155.30, the same previous day’s closing, in cash ready market.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revised regulations for digital on-boarding of merchants in order to enable cash deposits transactions in merchant accounts.
The SBP in a circular issued on Monday said that following amendments have been introduced to Regulations for Digital On-boarding of Merchants.’
Banks/MFBs shall ensure that Merchant Accounts are only used for digital collection of payments against the provision of legitimate goods and services. However, cash deposit into these accounts are permitted subject to terms and conditions mentioned in sub section 9 (b & c) of these Regulations.
In section 9(b) the amendments introduced as
i. All customers including Branchless Banking level “0” accountholders can top up/cash in their accounts up to Rs. 10,000/- per month through biometrically verified merchants. However, cash deposit shall only be used for digital payments.
ii. Total cash deposit in merchant accounts shall not exceed Rs. 100,000/- per month.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by five paisas against dollar on Monday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments, dealers said.
The rupee ended Rs154.95 to the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs154.90 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency dealers said that the market witnessed higher demand for dollar owing to first trading day of the week.
The dealers however said that the exchange rate might witness an adverse effect due to rising tension in Middle East after killing of Iranian leader in the US attack.
The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs154.93 and Rs154.98. The market recorded day high of Rs154.98 and low of Rs154.93 and closed at Rs154.95.
The exchange rate in open market witnessed depreciation in rupee value. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs155.00/Rs155.30 as compared with last Friday’s closing of Rs154.80/Rs155.10 in cash ready market.
The Pakistani rupee weakened by nine paisas against the US dollar in early trading on Monday, driven by increased demand for import and corporate payments. The greenback was being traded at Rs154.99 during morning hours in the interbank foreign exchange market, compared to the previous closing rate of Rs154.90.
(more…)KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued procedure for disbursement of loan to unemployed youth under Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (PMKJ-YES).
In a circular issued to all chief executives of banks and development financial institutions, the SBP said that executing agencies (EAs) shall evaluate loan applications of unemployed youth as per parameters of PMKJ-YES approved by the Federal Cabinet and circulated by the State Bank of Pakistan to all banks vide its IH&SMEFD Circular No. 08 of 2019 dated July 11, 2019.
The loan facility for a borrower shall be sanctioned and disbursed by the EA after completion of documentation formalities.
These loans shall be entitled for service charges subsidy and credit losses subsidy. No further evaluation on eligibility of borrowers would be conducted by the SBP.
The government has launched PM Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (PMKJ-YES) to provide concessional loans to youth for establishing or extending business enterprises thereby promoting entrepreneurship and reducing unemployment and poverty in Pakistan.
The SBP has issued necessary instructions to all banks through IH&SMEFD Circular No. 08 dated July 11, 2019. All loans disbursed under PMKJ-YES shall be reported to SBP under Small Enterprise Financing category.
Under the Scheme, loans are segregated into two tiers i.e. Tier 1 (T1) loans from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 0.5 million and Tier 2 (T2) loans – above Rs 0.5 million and up to Rs 5 million.
The loans will be provided through the banking system at service charges of 6 percent per annum. for TI loans and 8 percent p.a. for T2 loans, while the rate of return for banks working as EAs for PMKJ-YES would be KIBOR (6- Months offer) + 500 bps for T1 loans and KIBOR (6- Months offer) + 400 bps for T2 loans with KIBOR to be reset bi-annually.
The government shall absorb the difference between the rate of return for EAs and end user rate as service charges subsidy, the SBP said.
Besides, GOP will also bear credit losses (principal portion only) on the disbursed portfolio of the banks up to 50 percent in case of T1 loans and up to 10 percent in case of T2 loans.
As per SBP’s Prudential Regulations for Small Enterprise Financing, loans are classified as loss on objective basis (time based criteria) when default period is 18 months or more or on subjective basis.
Hence, for determination of admissible credit losses against EA’s total PMKJ-YES disbursed portfolio at the end of each quarter, only loan cases classified under loss category as per SBP SME Financing PRs will be considered.
The SBP said that the payment of service charges subsidy to EAs will be made through SBP’s operational arm viz Development Finance Support Department (DFSD), SBP BSC Head Office Karachi.
The EAs shall prepare and submit claims to DFSD for receiving government service charges subsidy on outstanding principal amount of their regular PMKJ-YES portfolio up to expiry of each individual loan.
In case of a loan becoming non-performing, no service charges subsidy will be paid after being classified as ‘Loss’ as per SBP PRs for SME Financing.
The EAs claims shall contain particulars of each individual loan along with calculations of subsidy based on relevant six months KIBOR used. The service charges subsidy claim should be duly vetted by internal audit department of the EA. The audited claim along with a certificate from EA relating to eligibility of borrower for PMKJ-YES and correctness of the subsidy amount shall be submitted to DFSD within 15 working days after the end of respective quarter for payment of service charges subsidy.
DFSD, SBP BSC shall scrutinize subsidy claim of EAs within 15 working days after receipt of complete information from EAs.
DFSD shall ascertain that calculations of EAs subsidy claim are correct and applicable KIBOR rate has been used by the EAs.
Thereafter, DFSD shall submit scrutinized claims to Finance Division for release of funds. After receiving funds from GoP, DFSD will advise SBP BSC Karachi for crediting the subsidy amount in respective EA’s account maintained at SBP BSC Karachi.
Banking Inspection Department of State Bank during regular inspection of the EAs shall conduct inspection of their PMKJ-YES portfolio on sampling basis using its own sampling techniques.
SBP inspectors shall randomly select credit files and review them from the perspective of eligibility of borrowers under the Program, status of loan (regular or NPL) and GOP subsidy claim.
The BID inspection report section on PMKJ-YES shall be used as an important input for reviewing the Scheme and assessing its effectiveness in fulfilling the government objective of promoting youth entrepreneurship in the country.
On behalf of government, payment of credit losses subsidy to EAs will be made up to 50 percent in case of TI loans and up to 10 percent in case of T2 loans on their disbursed portfolio under the Scheme on quarterly basis through Development Finance Support Department (DFSD), SBP BSC Head Office Karachi.
EAs shall prepare claims for submission to DFSD, SBP BSC for receiving payment on account of credit losses subsidy from the government on their disbursed PMKJ-YES portfolio. The list containing details of individual loans classified as loss as per SBP SME PRs and calculation of credit loss subsidy based on total disbursed PMKJ-YES portfolio of EAs at the end of respective quarter shall be submitted to DFSD. EAs claim in this respect should be duly vetted by their internal audit department. The audited claim along with a certificate from EA relating to correctness of the claimed amount shall be submitted to DFSD within 15 working days after the end of respective quarter.
DFSD, SBP BSC shall scrutinize credit loss subsidy claim of EAs within 15 working days after receipt of complete information from EAs and ascertain that calculations of EAs loss claim are correct.
Thereafter, DFSD will forward admissible claims of EAs to Finance Division, GoP, for release of funds. After receiving funds from Finance Division, DFSD will advise SBP BSC Karachi office for crediting the approved subsidy claim in respective EAs account maintained at SBP BSC Karachi Office.
EAs will return excess amount arising, if any, to DFSD, in case movement in their PMKJ-YES portfolio causes amount of credit loss to be less than/falls below 50 percent in case of T1 loans and 10 percent in case of T2 loans of total disbursed portfolio of EA at the end of reporting Quarter.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by two paisas against dollar on Friday owing to payment demand from importers and corporate buyers.
The rupee ended Rs154.90 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs154.88 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency dealers said that the demand for the greenback was higher during the day for import and corporate payment.
However, the inflows helped the rupee for further depreciation.
The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs154.90 and Rs154.95. The market recorded day high of Rs154.95 and low of Rs154.89 and closed at Rs154.90.
The exchange rate in open market witnessed slight change in rupee value. The buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs154.80/Rs155.10 from previous day’s closing of Rs154.70 and Rs155.00.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee eased by three paisas on Thursday owing to higher import and corporate payments, dealers said.
The rupee ended Rs154.88 to the dollar from Tuesday’s closing of Rs154.85 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The dealers said that last day the market was remained closed due to bank holiday. Therefore, the demand was higher today for import and corporate payments.
They said that improved economic indicators would help the rupee against the foreign currency in coming days.
The exchange rate in open market also witnessed slight change in rupee value. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs154.70/Rs155.10 from Tuesday’s closing of Rs154.70/Rs155.00 in cash ready market.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has directed financial institutions to ensure biometric verification of branchless banking customers by March 31, 2020.
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