KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday cancelled the license of an exchange company for violation the regulatory provisions.
The SBP said it cancelled the license of M/s Karwan Exchange Company ‘B’ (Pvt.) Limited on account of violations of SBP’s regulations.
The said exchange company, including its head office and branches have been debarred from undertaking any kind of foreign exchange related business activity.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the first time issued annual schedule for announcement of monetary policy, a statement said on Thursday.
The SBP said that taking another step towards making the process of monetary policy formulation more predictable and transparent, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to begin announcing a half-yearly schedule of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings on a rolling basis. In this regard, the dates for the next four meetings are envisaged as follows:
May MPC meeting: Friday, 28th May 2021
July MPC meeting: Tuesday, 27th July 2021
September MPC meeting: Monday, 20th September 2021
November MPC meeting: Friday, 26th November 2021
It is pertinent to mention that a minimum of 6 MPC meetings are scheduled every year. In addition, the MPC can convene emergency meetings during the intervening period, if required.
In taking this step, SBP is following international best practices. To manage expectations of economic agents, many central banks across the globe release the schedule of Monetary Policy Committee meetings in advance. This practice is consistent with the objective of reducing uncertainty around monetary policy decision making.
Clear communication helps to make central banks more transparent, and thereby contributes to enhancing their accountability. Central bank communication and transparency are also key for effective transmission of monetary policy decisions. In this context, SBP has over the years been seeking to modernize and increase transparency in the monetary policy making process, in line with international best practices. Some of these initiatives are laid out below:
In 2005, SBP began releasing Monetary Policy Statements.
In 2009, it was decided to hold at least 6 meetings on monetary policy, envisaged to take place in the calendar months of January, March, May, July, September and November. It was also decided to hold a press conference to announce the monetary policy decision in the months of January and July, to supplement the Monetary Policy Statement.
In 2015, after the introduction of an independent Monetary Policy Committee through an amendment in the SBP Act, two major changes were introduced to increase transparency. First, SBP started publishing minutes of the MPC meetings on its website. Second, the voting pattern of the MPC members was also made public.
In 2020, to make monetary policy communication more effective, SBP enhanced interactions with analysts, the media, various business forums, academics, and investors through regular briefing sessions with its senior management.
In January 2021, in light of the extreme uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic, the MPC decided to provide forward guidance on monetary policy for the first time to facilitate policy predictability and decision-making by economic agents.
Looking forward, SBP remains committed to continue modernizing its communication in line with international best practices and evolving domestic circumstances.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said that the inflow of workers’ remittances rose to an all-time monthly high of $2.8 billion in April 2021, which is 56 percent higher than during the same month last year.
On a cumulative basis, remittances have also surpassed previous records. At $ 24.2 billion in July-April FY21, remittances grew by 29 percent over the same period last year and have already crossed the full FY20 level by more than $1 billion.
Remittance inflows during July-April FY21 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($6.4 billion), United Arab Emirates ($5.1 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3 billion) and the United States ($2.2 billion).
Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to encourage more inflows through formal channels, curtailed cross border travel in the face of COVID-19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, orderly foreign exchange market conditions and, more recently, Eid-related inflows have contributed to record levels of remittances this year.
KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $167 million to $22.91 billion by week ended May 07, 2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $22.743 billion by week ended April 30, 2021.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased by $176 million to $15.774 billion by week ended May 07, 2021 as compared with $15.598 billion by week ended April 30, 2021. The SBP attributed the weekly increase in the foreign exchange reserves to the government’s official inflows.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks eased by $9 million to $7.136 billion by week ended May 07, 2021 as compared with $7.145 million on the week ended by April 30, 2021.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revised banking hours for public dealings effective from Monday May 17, 2021.
The SBP said that as per new schedule the banks and microfinance banks to observed following banking hours for public dealing:
Monday to Thursday: 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
The SBP said that banks may prescribe banking hours as per the requirement with the minimum benchmark of SBP (BSC) set for the purpose.
Previously, through a notification issued on April 28, 2021, the SBP revised the banking hours in line with the decision of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The previous banking hours were:
Monday to Thursday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM (without break)
Friday: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM (without break).
The SBP further said that and all other banks will revert to normal office hours effective from May 17, 2021.
Monday to Thurs: 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
KARACHI: The banks shall remain open on May 10 – 11, 2021 to facilitate general public and trade during first two Eid Holidays announced by the government from May 10, 2021 to May 15, 2021.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has already issued circular in this regard.
The central bank on May 06, 2021 issued the notification stating that in order to ensure the availability of banking services to trade and industry in particular and public in general during the extended holidays before the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, it has been decided that banks shall open 50 percent of their total authorized branches dealing in foreign exchange and trade activities on 10th May, 2021 (Monday).
The SBP further said that the remaining 50 percent of such branches on 11th May, 2021 (Tuesday) from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (without break).
KARACHI: Banks have made cash recovery of an amount of Rs21.17 billion against non-performing loans (NPLs) during the quarter ended March 31, 2021, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.
The cash recovery against NPLs was Rs49.23 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2020. Therefore, the recovery fell by 57 percent when compared the two quarters.
The breakup revealed that all commercial banks made cash recovery of Rs15.98 billion during quarter ended March 31, 2021 as compared with Rs27.4 billion in the quarter ended December 31, 2020.
The data showed that the public sector banks could only made recovery of Rs2.55 billion during the quarter under review as compared with Rs11.06 billion in the preceding quarter.
It also revealed that the local private banks made cash recovery of Rs13.4 billion against NPLs during the quarter ended March 31, 2021 as compared with Rs16.33 billion during the quarter ended December 31, 2020.
Total NPLs of all banks and Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 increased to Rs866.74 billion while net NPLs for the quarter were Rs110 billion.
Whereas, the total NPLs for all banks and DFIs for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 were Rs844.66 billion while net NPLs for the quarter were Rs100 billion.
KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Friday hailed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for allowing banks to open their branches during Eid holidays to facilitate general public.
Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Shariq Vohra appreciated the central bank for paying attention to KCCI’s legitimate demand and accordingly deciding to keep those authorized branches of banks operational on May 10th and 11th who are dealing in foreign exchange & trade activities.
“We are very grateful to the government and SBP for keeping the authorized branches operational on first two days of next week to facilitate trade & industry, particularly the exports during the extended holidays before Eid-ul-Fitr,” said Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala.
While welcoming Sindh government’s move to keep all businesses operational on Friday and Saturday from 6am till 6pm, Chairman BMG reiterated KCCI’s demand to allow small traders and shopkeepers to keep their businesses operational throughout the remaining few days of Ramazan ul Mubarak while the business hours have to be redefined from 12am till 12pm instead of existing 6am to 6pm.
President KCCI Shariq Vohra said that SBP’s move would certainly give some breathing space to the exporters by enabling them to carry out important banking transactions and dispatch shipments either on 10th or 11th May, 2021. Although the Sindh government has issued holidays notification from May 10th to 15th but this needs to be reissued under Factories Act in which holidays should be categorically mentioned from May 12th to 15th which would help in dealing with confusion amongst many circles.
He also requested the Sindh government to allow shopkeepers to keep their businesses operational during the remaining days of Ramazan and urged the shopkeepers to ensure strict implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at the commercial markets.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday directed banks to open their 50 percent branches on May 10 and 11, 2021 during Eid holidays to facilitate trade and industry.
In a statement, the central bank said that in order to ensure the availability of banking services to trade and industry in particular and public in general during the extended holidays before the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, it has been decided that banks shall open 50 percent of their total authorized branches dealing in foreign exchange and trade activities on 10th May, 2021 (Monday) while the remaining 50 percent of such branches on 11th May, 2021 (Tuesday) from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (without break).
KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fell by $777 million during a week owing to repayment of government’s external debt, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $22.746 billion by week ended April 30, 2021 as compared with $23.52 billion a week ago ended April 23, 2021.
The official reserves of the central bank fell by $830 million to $15.598 billion by week ended April 30, 2021 as compared with $16.428 billion a week ago. The SBP said that during the week government’ commercial loan of $ 1.0billion was paid, whose impact on SBP’s reserves was partially offset by official inflows.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks however increased by $53 million to $7.145 billion as compared with $7.092 million a week ago.