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  • Foreign exchange reserves up by $12 million

    Foreign exchange reserves up by $12 million

    KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $12 million to $18.747 billion by week ended February 14, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves were at $18.735 billion by week ended February 7, 2020.

    The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP increased by $74 million to $12.505 billion by week ended February 14, 2020 as against $12.431 billion a week ago.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks however fell by $62 million to $6.242 billion by week ended February 14, 2020 as against $6.304 billion a week ago.

  • SBP imposes penalty of Rs12.8 million on HBL

    SBP imposes penalty of Rs12.8 million on HBL

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed monetary penalty of Rs12.8 million on Habib Bank Limited (HBL) for procedural violations in the area of Customers Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC).

    The SBP on Tuesday said that it had imposed monetary penalty on HBL under significant enforcement actions during January 2020.

    The central bank directed HBL to improve the areas of CDD and KYC.

    The SBP imposed Rs219.138 million as penalty on five banks during the month of December 2019 for violating mainly regulations related to foreign trade operations, Customers Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC).

    The SBP from July 2019 started public disclosure of penal action against banks. “Enforcement actions are an integral part of regulatory regime which involves imposition of monetary penalties and other actions against institutions and individuals for violations of laws, rules, regulations, guidelines or directives issued by SBP from time to time,” according to a circular issued by the central bank.

    In order to bring more transparency and strengthen market discipline, SBP has decided to publicly disclose significant enforcement actions

    With the latest penal action the total amount of penalty during first seven months (July – January) 2019/2020 increased to Rs1,581.8 million.

  • Foreign direct investment increases by 66% in July – January

    Foreign direct investment increases by 66% in July – January

    KARACHI: The inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Pakistan has increased by 66 percent during first seven months (July – January) of 2019/2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.

    The inflows of FDI during the period under review increased to $1.56 billion as compared with $944 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    The total foreign private investment during July – January 2019/2020 registered 196 percent growth. The foreign private investment increased to $1.58 billion as compared with $535 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    The flow of portfolio investment into the capital market increased by 105 percent during the period under review. The capital market witnessed inflows of $21.5 million during July – January 2019/2020 as compared with outflow of $409 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    The total inflows of foreign investment has been recorded at $3.42 billion during the period under review. The main source of this investment can be attributed to foreign investment in debt securities.

    The inflow of debt securities during first seven months of current fiscal year was at $1.84 billion.

  • Fiscal reforms to help Pakistan generate funding to meet SDGs targets: IMF official

    Fiscal reforms to help Pakistan generate funding to meet SDGs targets: IMF official

    KARACHI: The ongoing fiscal reform in Pakistan will help the country to generate funding to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets under the UN 2030 agenda, said Athanasios Arvanitis, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Referring to the IMF program with Pakistan, Arvanitis remarked that it is important for the government to focus on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

    He noted that ongoing fiscal reforms will not only put Pakistan’s public debt path on a sustainable footing but also build the foundation for providing crucial funding to meet these targets.

    He was addressing a seminar on ‘Managing Crises in Emerging Markets’ hosted by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) a day earlier, a press statement issued on Saturday.

    Athanasios Arvanitis highlighted some of the main similarities of crises across emerging markets, notably the role typically played by elevated levels of debt, high public and external deficits, inflexible exchange rates, lack of competitiveness, low saving and investment, and maturity and currency mismatches.

    Despite these similarities, he emphasized that there was no one-size-fits-all model for managing crises. Instead, the IMF focuses on different dimensions while assisting a country in developing a homegrown stabilization program.

    The approach emphasizes the need to diagnose the roots of a country’s crisis, trends and developments in the balance sheets of various economic agents and their interconnectedness, and country-specific dynamics that affect the political economy of reforms. In terms of designing stabilization programs, Arvanitis stressed the importance of country ownership and measures to provide support for vulnerable segments of the population.

    He also drew parallels for Pakistan from the experiences of managing crises in other emerging countries.

    Referring to the IMF program with Pakistan, Arvanitis remarked that it is important for the government to focus on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the UN’s 2030 Agenda. He noted that ongoing fiscal reforms will not only put Pakistan’s public debt path on a sustainable footing but also build the foundation for providing crucial funding to meet these targets.

    In his welcoming remarks, the Governor SBP, Dr. Reza Baqir, stated that the objective of holding the seminar was two-fold. First, to demonstrate that, in addition to its mandate of formulating monetary, exchange rate and financial stability policies, SBP endeavors to facilitate constructive debate on economic issues and is open to diverse points of view. Second, to highlight that Pakistan is not unique and there are many other emerging economies that have also faced economic crises and undergone difficult adjustments.

  • Pakistan’s forex reserves increase by $91 million

    Pakistan’s forex reserves increase by $91 million

    KARACHI: Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves have increased by $91 million to $18.735 billion by week ended February 07, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves were at $18.644 billion by week ended January 31, 2020.

    The foreign exchange reserves of the central bank increased by $157 million to $12.431 billion by week ended February 07, 2020 as compared with $12.274 billion a week ago.

    However, the foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks fell by $66 million to $6.304 billion by week ended February 07, 2020 as compared with $6.37 billion a week ago.

  • Remittances increase to $13.3 bn in seven months

    Remittances increase to $13.3 bn in seven months

    KARACHI: The overseas Pakistani workers have sent $13.3 billion as remittances during first seven months (July – January) of 2019/2020, showing 4.1 percent growth when compared with same period of the last fiscal year.

    The overseas Pakistani had sent $12.774 billion in the first seven months of the last fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Wednesday.

    The remittances during January 2020 were $ 1,907.3 million, shows an increase of $163.2 million or 9.3 percent growth over remittance received during corresponding month of 2019 $1,744.1 million.

    During January 2020, larger amounts of Workers’ Remittances received from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA and UK with US $ 433.4 million, US $ 395.5 million, US $ 335.1 million and US $ 299.1 million recorded a decline of 8.4 percent, 7.5 percent, 6.3 percent and 7.9 percent respectively as compared to December 2019.

  • SBP enhances payment limits to $25,000 against freelance services

    SBP enhances payment limits to $25,000 against freelance services

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday enhanced payment limits against freelance services from $5,000 per individual per month to $25,000 per individual per month.

    The central bank in a statement said that in order to broaden the scope of business-to-customer transactions through home remittance channel it had enhanced payment limits against freelance services in computer and information systems and other freelance services from $5,000 per individual per month to $25,000 per individual per month.

    The enhancement in limit will facilitate freelancers to route greater value of funds through a more economical and efficient channel of home remittances and help in receiving foreign exchange flows through formal banking channels in the country.
    This would also enable freelancers to expand their business/ operations and engage new freelancers to join the workforce.

    This is expected to create employment opportunities and increase foreign exchange earnings of the country.

    While Export of Services has been growing in double digits, (10.5 percent rise registered in January, 2020), this enhancement of limits for freelancers shall further accelerate growth in Export of Services in the months ahead, the SBP added.

  • Bearer bonds withdrawal documents Rs243 billion

    Bearer bonds withdrawal documents Rs243 billion

    KARACHI: An amount of Rs243 billion has been documented by people through surrendering bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination.

    According to official statistics, the investment in unregistered prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination fell to Rs14.55 billion by December 2019 as compared with Rs258 billion in May 2019.

    The government on June 24, 2019, announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds.

    In compliance to the government announced the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also issued instructions to banks. The central bank issued a procedure for the banks to facilitate the general public in exchanging the unregistered prize bonds with three different modes.

    The SBP said that the bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 cannot be exchanged against cash. However, it can be redeemed against registered prize bonds or can be converted into national saving schemes or face value (direct transfer to the bank account of bond bolder).

    4th draw of Rs25,000 premium prize bonds announced

    The SBP asked the banks that such prize bonds would not be sold after June 24, 2019, and will not be encashed/redeemed after March 31, 2020. No further draws of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds shall be held.

    Due to the replacement of the bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination, the total investment in prize bonds fell to Rs718.38 billion by December 2019 as compared with Rs951.64 billion in May 2019.

    The bearer papers have been known as a parking lot for the undocumented economy. Therefore, the government launched registered prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination in March 2017 which could be purchased against certain requirements including Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) and a valid bank account.

    Till May 2019 the total investment in premium prize bonds was Rs6.17 billion. But after the restriction imposed on bearer bonds the investment into registered prize bonds increased to Rs17.71 billion by the end-December 2019.

    According to the SBP, the bearer instrument can be exchanged in savings schemes such as Special Saving Certificates (SSC) or Defence Saving Certificates (DSC). While the third mode of exchanging the bearer bonds was direct transfer to bank accounts.

    19th draw of Rs40,000 premium prize bonds announced

    The government is intended to transform all the bearer prize bonds into registered scrips. In this regard, the Central Directorate of National Savings in collaboration with SBP is planning to issue scripless registered prize bonds amongst all denominations with objective to document the economy.

  • Pakistan’s forex reserves increase to $18.644 billion

    Pakistan’s forex reserves increase to $18.644 billion

    KARACHI: Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $282 million on a weekly basis to $18.644 billion by week ended January 31, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $18.362 billion a week ago on January 24, 2020.

    The official reserves of SBP increased by $359 million to $12.274 billion by week ended January 31, 2020 as compared with $11.915 billion a week ago.

    The reserves held by commercial banks witnessed decline by $76 million to $6.37 billion as compared with $6.447 billion a week ago.