Karachi, February 18, 2022: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced the official exchange rates for February 18, 2022, offering insights into currency values against the Pakistani Rupee.
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Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves slip to $23.49 bn
KARACHI: The total liquid foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have declined by $231 million to $23.49 billion by week ended February 11, 2022, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $23.721 billion by week ended February 04, 2022.
The official reserves of the central bank fell by $241 million to $17.096 billion by week ended February 11, 2022 as compared with $17.337 billion a week ago.
However, the foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks slightly increased by $10 million to $6.394 billion by week ended February 11, 2022 as compared with $6.384 billion a week ago.
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Foreign investment surges by 176% during July – January
KARACHI: The overall inflow of foreign investment in the country recorded 176 per cent during first seven months (July – January) 2021/2022 due to the inflows of debt securities to the tune of $1.057 billion received in January 2022, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
The total foreign investment increased to $1.817 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $659 million in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s foreign investment surges by 73% in 5 months
The net foreign private investment is showing increase of 5.7 per cent to $859 million during July – January 2021/2022 as compared with $812.4 million.
The net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), a major component of foreign private investment, into Pakistan has recorded 11.3 per cent during first seven months (July – January) of 2021/2022.
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The net inflow of the foreign direct investment increased to $1.17 billion during first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $1.05 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The increase in net inflow of FDI can be attributed to significant contraction in outflow during the period. The outflow fell by 40 per cent to $468.7 million during the period under review as compared with the outflow of $786 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.
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However, the portfolio investment, the other component of foreign private investment, recorded a 31 per cent decline during first seven months of the current fiscal year. The outflow under foreign portfolio investment recorded at $308 million during July – January 2021/2022 as compared with outflow of $236 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
READ MORE: Focus on increasing investment in export industry: PM
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SBP issues KIBOR rates on February 17, 2022
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday issued the Karachi Interbank Offered Rates (KIBOR) as of February 17, 2022.
Following are the latest KIBOR rates:
Tenor BID OFFER 1 – Week 9.77 10.27 2 – Week 9.81 10.31 1 – Month 9.87 10.37 3 – Month 10.19 10.44 6 – Month 10.57 10.82 9 – Month 10.64 11.14 1 – Year 10.72 11.22 -
Customers’ exchange rates on February 17, 2022
Karachi, February 17, 2022: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued the official exchange rates for February 17, 2022, offering crucial information on currency values against the Pakistani Rupee.
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SBP expands export finance scheme to improve inflows
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday expanded the export finance scheme (EFS) to facilitate exporters and encourage timely foreign inflows.
The central bank said that it had enhanced the scope of EFS with a to further facilitate exporters and encourage timely inflow of export proceeds.
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The EFS has been enhanced for both conventional as well as Sharia based and allowing the exporters to obtain financing against their export proceeds through discounting of export bills/receivables.
Discounting of bills/receivables is essentially a financial transaction where the exporter surrenders its future export proceeds and obtain financing in PKR for the remainder of the time period of exports proceeds realization.
READ MORE: Exchange companies get incentive for dollar surrender
This initiative will help exporters meet their working capital needs and also incentivize them to bring in their export proceeds in a timely manner that will help to improve foreign exchange inflows in the interbank market.
READ MORE: Incentives approved for exchange companies on dollar surrender
Exporter can obtain financing from banks by discounting their export bills/receivables (both post-shipment & pre-shipment) under this scheme, at rates ranging from 2 per cent to 3 per cent depending upon the tenor of discounting. In the first three months, this facility will be available at introductory lower rates of 1 per cent and 2 per cent. Banks will obtain refinance equal to discounted amount for the tenor of discount at tier-based rates ranging from 1 per cent to 2 per cent.
In addition to supportive rates for working capital needs of exporters, SBP has also provided special relaxation under this facility by increasing the export proceed realization period up to 180 days if the exporter avails this discounting facility.
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SBP issues KIBOR rates on February 16, 2022
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday issued the Karachi Interbank Offered Rates (KIBOR) as of February 16, 2022.
Following are the latest KIBOR rates:
Tenor BID OFFER 1 – Week 9.78 10.28 2 – Week 9.82 10.32 1 – Month 9.87 10.37 3 – Month 10.20 10.45 6 – Month 10.56 10.81 9 – Month 10.64 11.14 1 – Year 10.74 11.24 -
Customers’ exchange rates on February 16, 2022
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday issued customers’ exchange rates for February 16, 2022. The exchange rate is on the basis of weighted average rates of commercial banks.
The SBP said the data is compiled and disseminated for information only. These exchange rates are estimates that quoted by various commercial banks to their clients.
The banks provide their indicative exchange rates for commercial transactions with customers.
CURRENCY BUYING SELLING AED 47.8093 47.9213 AUD 125.6317 125.9105 CAD 138.0113 138.3169 CHF 189.6676 190.0888 CNY 27.7058 27.7653 EUR 199.2753 199.7527 GBP 237.7846 238.3382 JPY 1.5170 1.5205 SAR 46.7746 46.8829 USD 175.4836 175.9064 -
SBP enhances agriculture credit limits
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday enhanced the indicative credit limits for agriculture financing by banks to farmers to align the amount of financing with agriculture input requirements.
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The enhanced indicative credit limits for production and development loans of farm and non-farm sector will directly benefit agriculture borrowers, who will now be able to obtain more credit from banks and in turn enhance agriculture productivity through adequate use of inputs.
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This will also enable banks to align the loan amounts with the actual requirements of farmers and resultantly enhance flow of agriculture credit.
It is important to note that the indicative credit limits serve as a guideline for banks to assess the credit requirements of agriculture borrowers while sanctioning credit limits. Banks may, however, make adjustments on the basis of prevailing market conditions, local prices of inputs, and repayment capacity of borrowers.
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The revised indicative credit limits will also facilitate provincial planning departments in estimating the total financial and credit requirements of respective provinces/regions for farm and non-farm sectors.
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PM Imran launches 2nd phase of Raast payment system
KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched the second phase of Raast, a Person-to-Person (P2P) instant payment system, in a ceremony held in Islamabad, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement.
The central bank said that Raast is a flagship initiative of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is a payment system platform that enables various types of transactions among different stakeholders such as organizations, businesses and persons.
READ MORE: SBP launches free P2P money transfer under Raast
The objective of this initiative is to promote digitization and financial inclusion in the country. In the first phase of Raast, launched in January 2021, transactions from organizations to persons, generally referred to as Bulk Payments, was enabled. The second phase is designed to facilitate Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions under Raast.
The Prime Minister congratulated Governor SBP Dr. Reza Baqir and his team for the successful completion of the second phase. He was addressing a gathering of Ministers, Presidents and CEOs of Banks, SBP officials and other distinguished guests at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad.
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He appreciated that the newly launched system will enable ordinary people to execute digital payments instantly, securely, and conveniently without paying any fee and added that Raast will open doors of further innovation for the economy and particularly the financial sector.
He expressed his confidence that through digitization of the economy, the over 220 million population could be converted into an asset by ensuring their financial inclusion.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin appreciated the SBP for the progress made in digitization and expressed his confidence that the forthcoming phases of Raast including payment to merchant will play an important role in facilitating the masses in their financial transaction thus increasing their valuable contribution in the economy.
Governor SBP Dr. Reza Baqir welcomed the Prime Minister on the launch event and expressed gratitude for his commitment and support to the SBP initiatives for promoting digitization and financial inclusion in the economy. Governor Baqir, while highlighting the key features of Raast, explained that individuals can use this platform in their transactions just like cash and they will not have to pay any fees or charges for using this payment system. More importantly, Raast is secure and convenient and free of risks compared to cash. Raast is easy and simple to use as it allows connecting bank account to user’s mobile number, called Raast ID. The facility can be used on mobile apps and internet banking portals of banks. For those people who do not have a mobile phone or facility of internet banking, Raast P2P service is also available in bank branches.
To avail Raast, customers should check SBP’s Raast landing page to see if their bank is already offering Raast—currently more than 18 banks, processing majority of retail payment transactions, are offering Raast services —and register one time for Raast in their bank’s mobile app, through internet banking or by visiting a bank branch. Remaining banks are expected to be on boarded with Raast in the coming weeks. Customers may also see the following YouTube video tutorial on registering and using Raast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZC0M1d-K0
Dr. Baqir explained that Raast is Pakistan’s first instant payment system established in accordance with the National Payment Systems Strategy, which was prepared by State Bank of Pakistan and launched by the President of the World Bank in 2019 when he visited Pakistan. This project is a major initiative of State Bank of Pakistan, and with the launch of Raast, Pakistan is now in an exclusive list of countries who have these state of the art instant payment system. He assured that SBP is committed to launching more innovative features in Raast to further promote digitization and financial inclusion.
On SBP’s efforts to promote digitalization of payments and economy, Governor SBP highlighted that in January SBP issued digital bank licensing framework that provides flexible requirements to setup digital banks in Pakistan. For now, only five licenses for Digital Banks will be issued and interested parties can apply for a license until March 31, 2022.
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It may be noted that during fiscal year 2021, 1.2 billion transactions of USD500 billion value were processed through retail e-Banking channels. These transactions showed year-on-year growth of 30.6 per cent in volume and 31.1 per cent in value.