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 Pakistani Rupee held steady against the US Dollar on Thursday, closing at Rs156.96 in the interbank foreign exchange market, a marginal change from the previous day’s close of Rs156.97.
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KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday issued procedure for repatriation of foreign assets held in the form of shares of a company incorporated in Pakistan, under Asset Declaration (Procedure & Conditions) Rules, 2019.
The central bank said that in terms of Sub-Rule 6 of Rule 4 of the Assets Declaration (Procedure and Conditions) Rules 2019, issued by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) vide S.R.O. 578(I)/2019 dated May 25, 2019, where foreign assets are shares of a company incorporated in Pakistan held by a declarant, whether beneficially or otherwise, it may be declared, in terms of Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019, subject to their repatriation into Pakistan and conversion into non-repatriable basis.
In order to facilitate the declaration of shares of a company incorporated in Pakistan, under clause 4(6) of the above mentioned Rules, held by the declarant, whether beneficially or otherwise, on repatriable basis, the SBP allowed these shares to be repatriated into Pakistan and also notify the following procedure for conversion of these shares from repatriable basis to non-repatriable basis and transfer in the name of the declarant:
Shares registered with SBP on repatriable basis:
i. The owner of shares (i.e. the person in whose name the shares are already registered with SBP) will submit its application, duly forwarded by the respective company (the company whose shares are held by the non-resident on repatriable basis) through the AD (bank), to SBP for cancellation of registration of shares.
ii. The application shall explicitly state that the shares are beneficially owned by the declarant (Name, Father Name, Residential Address, CNIC/Passport No.) who wants to declare them under the Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019.
iii. The application shall also state that the request has been made to the company/company registrar/Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC), as the case may be, for transfer of these shares in the name of the declarant on non-repatriable basis after cancellation of the registration by SBP, with an advice to confirm SBP upon transfer of these shares.
iv. The application will be submitted along with following original documents:
A. Original shares registration letter(s), earlier issued by SBP on registration of shares of the company in favor of the applicant on repatriable basis.
B. A clear undertaking from the applicant that no repatriation of capital and profit/dividend accruing thereon will be claimed at any stage.
C. Letter from company secretary, confirming that:
a. Underlying shares (the shares whose registration is to be cancelled) are still held by the applicant.
b. Applicant has requested to the company/company registrar/CDC for transfer of the shares in the name of the declarant on non-repatriable basis after cancellation of the registration by SBP.
v. Upon receiving such request through AD, SBP will cancel the registration letter and inform the AD and the company along with an endorsement to FBR.
vi. Upon transfer of shares in the name of declarant, the company/company registrar or CDC, as the case may be, will confirm SBP that the shares have been transferred in the name of declarant on non-repatriable basis.
Shares acquired through Special Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA) under Para 9 of Chapter 20 of Foreign Exchange Manual:
i. The legal owner (i.e. Foreign Portfolio Investor in whose name the Unique Identification Number has been registered) of the shares shall approach the AD (SCRA maintaining bank) with the request on the format attached as Form-I, that the shares are beneficially owned by the declarant i.e. natural person(s) (Name, Father Name, Residential Address, CNIC /Passport No.) who wants to declare them under the Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019.
ii. The request shall also state to transfer the shares from the depository (CDC) account of legal owner to depository (CDC) account in the name of the declarant as a local/domestic shareholder (local securities account details will be provided) and delink the said holdings from SCRA in banks’ books. This will be applicable only to shares of Foreign Portfolio Investors, which are currently safe kept under the participant ID of the AD. The said transfer between the two accounts should be in accordance with the procedure prescribed by CDC for this purpose.
iii. The AD will issue a certificate to SBP on the format attached as Form-II, that shares have been transferred to the declarant CDC sub-account in line with the instruction received from the client, excluding it from SCRA regime with copy to CDC and FBR for their information and necessary action. CDC will also confirm that consequent upon the request of the legal owner, the shares have been transferred in the name of declarant on non-repatriable basis.
All procedural aspects in respect of above declaration including, but not limited to, (i) conversion of shares from repatriable basis to non-repatriable basis whether with CDC or otherwise and (ii) transfer and registration of shares from the name of present legal owner to the declarant shall be completed on or before June 30, 2019; and the declarant shall disclose the details of such shares, including name and number of such shares and their face value in his/her asset declaration under Assets Declaration Ordinance, 2019, the SBP said.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee weakened by 16 paisas against dollar on Wednesday owing to higher demand for import and corporate payments.
The rupee ended Rs156.97 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs156.81 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs156.85 and Rs156.95.
The marked recorded day high of Rs157.00 and low of Rs156.90 and closed at Rs156.97.
Currency experts said that due to oil payments the demand of greenback was high in the market.
The exchange rate was remained unchanged in open market.
The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs155.50/Rs156.50, the same previous day’s level, in the cash ready market.
KARACHI: The deposits of banking system have increased to all time high at Rs13.46 trillion in May 2019. However, the record deposits are at risk as the government planned to create Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the latest budget.
The deposits of the banking system have increased by 9.8 percent to Rs13.459 trillion by May 2019 as compared with Rs12.258 trillion with the deposit level on the same month a year ago, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Previously, the deposits of banking system had increased to the highest level at Rs13.456 trillion in March 2019.
In the budget 2019/2020, the government announced to establish treasury single account for the government exposure.
Industry source said that the initiatives of TSA would have negative repercussions on the banking deposits.
The has drafted a proposal to introduce TSA to transfer its deposits that are currently being maintained with commercial banks, to SBP.
In this regard, SBP recently held a meeting with bank representatives to brief them about the proposed mechanism of TSA.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that it would be a negative development for banks in terms of systematic risk as total government deposits with commercial banks are around Rs1.9 trillion or 13.7 percent of total deposits, around which, Rs0.9 trillion are of the federal government.
Bank of Khyber (BOP) has the highest government deposits (Federal & Provincial) of 63 percent of its total deposits, followed by Bank of Punjab (BOP) 56 percent, Askari Bank (AKBL) 33 percent and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 29 percent.
The analyst said that in the first phase, federal government deposits (around Rs0.9 trillion) will be transferred to SBP under single account, which may be followed by transfer of provincial deposits (around Rs1 trillion).
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee recovered 15 paisas against dollar on Tuesday day after the press conference of the governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for clarifying many issues about the economy.
The rupee ended Rs156.81 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs156.96 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs156.60 and Rs156.90. The market witnessed day high of Rs156.85 and low of Rs156.40 and closed Rs156.81.
A day earlier SBP governor Reza Baqir conducted a press briefing and clarified many issues pertaining to the economy, which boosted the confidence in the market.
The exchange rate in the open market was remained unchanged.
The buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs155.50/Rs156.50 same previous day’s closing in cash ready market.
KARACHI: The demand and supply will decide the rate of US dollar, Reza Baqir, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday in his maiden press conference.
“Let the market decide the dollar rate,” he said while replying to questions regarding exchange rate.
He said that there were impacts of high inflation while increasing exchange rate. On the other hand if exchange rates are maintained then it will result in high debts, he added.
At present the exchange rate is being decided by the market and it help in improving the indicators, the SBP governor said.
The governor said that by controlling the exchange rate the imports had been reduced. He said that current account deficit had been reduced significantly. The deficit was at $19.8 billion. The deficit has been narrowed to $13 billion so far in the current fiscal year.
He said that exchange rate was improved before Eid ul Fitr due to better inflows. However, payment pressure from corporate sector has against pressurized the local currency, he added.
The SBP governor said that the economic team is bringing improving in the country.
He said that in the past such budgets were presented which had failed to yield results.
However, in the current budget relief measures have been announced under social protection program.
Talking about the IMF program and its conditionalities, he said that people should wait till July 03, 2019 and after that all the documents related to fund programs would be made public.
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee hit another historic low after depreciation of Rs1.11 against US dollar on Monday owing to payment pressure for oil import.
The rupee ended Rs156.96 to the dollar as compared with last Friday’s closing of Rs155.85 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The foreign currency market initiated in the range of Rs156.50 and Rs157.00. The market witnessed day high of Rs157.00 and low of Rs156.96 and closed at Rs156.96 in interbank foreign exchange market.
However, the exchange rate in open market witnessed appreciation of rupee value.
The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs155.50/Rs156.50 from last Saturday’s close of Rs156.00/Rs157.00 in cash free market.
The rupee witnessed depreciation for the last more than one and half years. The rupee was kept stable by the previous government in order to control the economic imbalances.
However, keeping the rupee stable against dollar created balloon in the economy. Now the government is under negotiation with the IMF to bargain a new loan program, which is almost finalized. The IMF board is scheduled to meet next week to review Pakistan’s request for new loan program.
KARACHI: Overseas Pakistanis workers have sent $20.19 billion during July – May 2018/2019 as compared $18.28 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, showing growth of 10.42 percent, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.
The central bank said that during May 2019, the inflow of worker’s remittances amounted to $2315.74 million, which is 30.17 percent higher than April 2019 and 28.36 percent higher than May 2018.
The country wise details for the month of May 2019 show that inflows from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and EU countries amounted to US $493.73 million, $476.57 million, $346.81 million, $387.09 million, $237.76 million and $70.61 million, respectively compared with the inflow of $432.05 million, $373.85 million, $290.26 million, $269.11 million, $178.96 million and $60.34 million respectively in May 2018.
Remittances received from Malaysia, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during May 2019 amounted to $303.17 million together as against $199.51 million received in May 2018.
KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has organized a stakeholders’ consultations session to review the changes in insurance regulatory framework governing Bancassurance, a statement said on Friday.
(more…)KARACHI: The dollar appreciated by Rs2.94 to make a new record high on Friday owing to weak economic indicators and high debt repayments during next two years.
The rupee ended Rs155.85 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs152.91 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The interbank foreign exchange market initiate in the range of Rs153.50 and Rs153.75. The market recorded day high of Rs156.50 and low of Rs153.95 and closed at Rs155.85.
Currency experts said that the statement of the adviser to the prime minister regarding interest payment earlier in the day against foreign loan pressurized the local currency.
The exchange rate in open market also witnessed depreciation of the local currency.
The buying and selling of the dollar was recorded at Rs156.00/Rs157.50 from previous day’s closing of Rs152.50/Rs153.50 in cash ready market.