KARACHI: The government will document an amount of Rs260 billion in first phase by withdrawing Rs40,000 denomination bonds.
The government has announced to stop circulation of high denomination bearer bonds in order to curb the black economy.
Till February 2019 the central directorate of national savings issued Rs259.22 billion bonds of Rs40,000.
On Jane 24, 2019 State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued instructions to commercial banks for not selling Rs40,000 Prize Bonds. The SBP also issued procedure for exchanging the bonds with premium bonds or documented saving certificates by March 2020.
According to Economic Survey of Pakistan 2018-2019 the CDNS had planned to convert all bearer bonds into documented securities.
A staggering amount of Rs939 billion has been invested in bearer bonds up to February 2019.
Market sources said the holders of bearer bonds worth Rs40,000 were desperate to exchange and were even offering to exchange much lower rates in order to avoid questioning.
The sources further said that many of those holders were desperate to exchange with US dollar and other foreign currencies, which put pressure on the local currency.
The rupee hit all time low at Rs165 to a dollar in Interbank Foreign Exchange Market on Wednesday.
On the other hand the FBR is also planning to question the persons exchanging the bearer bonds regarding source of investment.
