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  • Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fall by $769 million to $15 billion

    Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fall by $769 million to $15 billion

    KARACHI: Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves declined by $769 million to $15 billion by week ended September 27, 2019, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The total foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan declined by $768.9 million to $15.003 billion by week ended September 27, 2019 as compared with $15.772 billion a week ago.

    The official reserves held by the SBP came down by $723.7 million to $7.741 billion by week ended September 27, 2019 as compared with $8.465 billion a week ago.

    The SBP said that its official reserves were declined due to foreign debt repayment.

    The reserves held by commercial banks also fell by $45.2 million to $7.262 billion as compared with $7.307 billion a week ago.

    The foreign exchange reserves hit record high of $23.084 billion on week ended July 01, 2016.

  • Banks directed to adopt standard QR codes for payments in Pakistan

    Banks directed to adopt standard QR codes for payments in Pakistan

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has directed all commercial banks and other financial institutions to adopt EMVCo’s EMV QR Code Specifications for Payment Systems (QRCPS).

    The SBP said that Quick Response (QR) Codes have been emerging as low cost payment acceptance alternative to Point of Sale (POS) terminals in Pakistan, especially for small merchants.

    Although QR codes have been deployed in substantial numbers, the volume of transactions has not achieved desired levels primarily due to their lack of interoperability.

    Therefore, as a first step towards achieving interoperability of Payment QR Codes in Pakistan, SBP after extensive stakeholder consultations has decided that henceforth all Institutions issuing and/or acquiring QR codes for payments in Pakistan shall adopt EMVCo’s EMV QR Code Specifications for Payment Systems (QRCPS).

    Further, non-EMV QR Codes already deployed in Pakistan shall comply with this standard by 31st March, 2020.

    The SBP said that institutions issuing/acquiring QR Codes shall also ensure:

    Compliance with branding guidelines for QR Codes displayed at merchant locations (attached at Annexure-A).

    Data related to issuance and usage of QR codes, as per Annexure-B, is submitted on quarterly basis to Payment Systems Department (PSD) within a fortnight of quarter end.

    Compliance of SBP’s instructions, guidelines, rules and regulations on Consumer Protection and Dispute Resolution issued and amended from time to time.
    Further, institutions acquiring QR Codes are also encouraged to:

    Promote innovative uses of QR codes like invoice/challan based payments, branch based Inter-bank Fund Transfers (IBFT) etc.; and

    Plan for achieving inter scheme interoperability in due course of time.

  • Pakistan’s forex reserves decrease by $125 million

    Pakistan’s forex reserves decrease by $125 million

    KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country fell by $125 million to $15.773 billion by week ended September 20, 2019, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The total foreign exchange reserves of the country a week ago were at $15.898 billion.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP declined by $135 million to $8.465 billion by week ended September 20, 2019 as against $8.6 billion a week ago.

    The SBP said that the reserves were declined due to external debt payments.

    The reserves held by commercial banks, however, increased by $10 million to $7.307 billion as compared with $7.297 billion a week ago.

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  • Banks to observe extended working hours on Sept 30 for tax collection: SBP

    Banks to observe extended working hours on Sept 30 for tax collection: SBP

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday said the banks will observe extended working hours on September 30, 2019 to facilitate collection of duty and taxes on the last day of first quarter of current fiscal year

    In order to facilitate the collection of Government receipts / duties / taxes, it has been decided that authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) as well as field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation (SBP-BSC) shall observe extended banking hours upto 9:00 P.M. on September 30, 2019 (Monday), the SBP said.

    Accordingly, NBP branches will settle their transactions with respective SBP-BSC field offices on the same day i.e. September 30, 2019 for which purpose a special clearing has been arranged at 7:00 P.M. by the NIFT, it added.

    All banks are, therefore, advised to keep their concerned branches open on September 30, 2019 (Monday) till such time that is necessary to facilitate the special clearing for Government transactions.

  • Complete record of destruction of banknotes available: SBP

    Complete record of destruction of banknotes available: SBP

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said it has all the records related to destructed old design Rs500 banknotes. The central bank also denied media report about record missing of such banknotes.

    In a statement, the SBP said that apropos news item appearing in a section of media regarding unavailability of record pertaining to destruction of old design Rs.500 banknotes.

    “The SBP categorically denies and rejects the media reports regarding unavailability of the record of old design Rs.500 banknotes demonetized in Oct 2012.”

    The destruction of banknotes is an ongoing activity and is carried out across the country at field offices of SBPBSC, the record for the same is available in respective field offices.

    “The Audit team however, just visited SBPBSC Karachi and assumed that the record available at Karachi is the total record available with the SBP, which is factually incorrect,” the SBP said.

    “The complete record of banknote’s destruction is available at SBPBSC field offices located in 16 cities across the country,” it added.

  • FBR taking significant steps to improve tax administration: IMF

    FBR taking significant steps to improve tax administration: IMF

    ISLAMABAD: International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is undertaking significant steps to improve tax administration and its interface with taxpayers.

    An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, visited Islamabad and Karachi during September 16–20, 2019 to take stock of economic developments since the start of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and discuss progress in the implementation of economic policies.

    A full mission for the first review under the EFF, is planned for late-October. At the conclusion of the staff visit, Ramirez Rigo issued the following statement:

    “While the authorities’ economic reform program is still in its early stages, there has been progress in some key areas. The transition to a market-determined exchange rate has started to deliver positive results on the external balance, exchange rate volatility has diminished, monetary policy is helping to control inflation, and the SBP has improved its foreign exchange buffers.

    “There has been a significant improvement in tax revenue collections, with taxes showing double-digit growth net of exporters refunds. Moreover, the FBR is undertaking significant steps to improve tax administration and its interface with taxpayers. Staff and the authorities have analyzed the worse than expected fiscal results of FY2018/19, which were partially the result of one-off factors and should not jeopardize the ambitious fiscal targets for FY2019/20. Importantly, the social spending measures in the program have been implemented.

    “The near-term macroeconomic outlook is broadly unchanged from the time of the program approval, with growth projected at 2.4 percent in FY2019/20, inflation expected to decline in the coming months, and the current account adjusting more rapidly than anticipated. However, domestic and international risks remain, and structural economic challenges persist. In this context, the authorities need to press ahead with their reform agenda.

    “In order to complete the first review, an IMF staff team plans to return to Pakistan in late-October to assess the end-September program targets.”

  • Reform program results encouraging, SBP tells IMF

    Reform program results encouraging, SBP tells IMF

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that initial results from the reform program are encouraging.

    SBP Governor Dr. Reza Baqir told a delegation of IMF led by the Director Middle East and Central Asia Department, Jihad Azour on Thursday. He was accompanied by the IMF Mission Chief to Pakistan, Ernesto Ramirez Rigo; Resident Representative of IMF for Pakistan, Ms. Teresa Daban Sanchez; and Special Assistant to the Director of the IMF’s Communications Department, Olga Stankova. The delegation also met with senior management of the SBP.

    The SBP governor said that the earlier volatility in the exchange market and associated uncertainty had subsided and confidence was slowly improving.

    “Inflation had risen due to the economic imbalances accumulated from previous years but inflationary pressures were expected to recede in the second half of the current fiscal year.”

    Nevertheless, the governor emphasized that these were the early stages of the reform process and it was essential to sustain the reform momentum and to keep policies focused on securing stability and promoting sustainable and shared growth.

    He noted that Pakistan has embarked on its home-grown economic reform program and said that he looked forward to a continuing fruitful partnership with the IMF and other stakeholders in the international financial community to support this reform program.

    He observed that the transition to a market-based exchange rate system, building foreign exchange reserves, and bringing down inflation were key elements of the SBP’s reform program to restore financial stability and lay the foundations for sustainable and shared growth.

    In his discussions with the SBP, Azour shared his views on how central banks in the region were responding to the challenges being faced by them particularly with regard to capital flows, the role of technology, and the role of central banks in economic management, amongst other areas.

    Azour looked forward to a continuing partnership with the State Bank.

  • Pakistan foreign exchange reserves increase by $148 million to $15.898 billion

    Pakistan foreign exchange reserves increase by $148 million to $15.898 billion

    KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan has increased by $148 million to $15.898 billion by week ended September 13, 2019 as compared with $15.75 million a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The reserves held by the SBP increased by $138 million to $8.6 billion by week ended September 13, 2019 as compared with $8.462 billion a week ago.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased by $10 million to $7.297 billion by week ended under review as compared with $7.89 billion by week ended September 06, 2019.

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  • Foreign direct investment falls by 58.4pc in July – August

    Foreign direct investment falls by 58.4pc in July – August

    KARACHI: The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined 58.4 percent in the first two months of current fiscal year, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.

    The total inflows under FDI reduced to $156.7 million during July – August 2019 as compared with $377 million in the same period of the last year.

    However, portfolio investment registered 182.8 percent growth during the first two months of the current fiscal year.

    The investment into the capital market grew to $107.3 million during July – August 2019 as compared with outflows of $129.6 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    The total foreign private investment posted 6.8 percent increase to $264 million during July – August 2019 as compared with $247.3 million in the corresponding period of the last year.