The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced on Wednesday that banks will be closed from June 4 to 7, 2019, in observance of Eid-ul-Fitr. This extended holiday period will allow employees and customers to celebrate the festive occasion without interruption.
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SBP facilitates three million people with fresh currency notes on Eid-ul-Fitr
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has successfully facilitated three million customers in obtaining fresh currency notes for Eid-ul-Fitr through its e-branches of commercial banks, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
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SBP issues daily exchange rates for payment under amnesty scheme 2019
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is issuing daily exchange rate for payment of duty and taxes under tax amnesty scheme – 2019.
The exchange rates are available at the FBR portal and can be accessed by visiting https://www.fbr.gov.pk/assets-declaration-scheme-2019/132009
The SBP has started issuing the exchange rates from May 27, 2019 in 10 major foreign currencies for conversion into Pak Rupee.
The available conversions for foreign currencies available in US Dollar (USD), Saudi Riyal (SAR), Japanese Yen (JPY), British Pound (GBP), Euro (EUR), Chinese Yuan (CNY), Swiss Franc (CHF), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Australian Dollar (AUD) and UAE Dirham (AED).
The latest following exchange rates are available on the FBR site is for May 28, 2019.
CURRENCY: BUYING RATE
AED: 40.7238
AUD: 103.6792
CAD: 111.3376
CHF: 149.0207
CNY: 21.7252
EUR: 167.5895
GBP: 190.5176
JPY: 1.3657
SAR: 39.8949
USD: 149.5900
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SBP waives 100 percent cash margin requirement on various imported goods
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has waived condition of 100 cash margin on import of various goods against five different HS Codes.
The SBP in a circular issued on Tuesday said that it had been decided to waive the condition of 100 percent cash margin requirement on imports made against the HS Codes: 0105.1100, 8472.9090, 8473.3090, 1006.1010, 8472.9010
The SBP said that moreover, it is also clarified that 100 percent cash margin shall not be applicable to the import made by Independent Power Producers and Captive Power Producers against HS Code 8543.7090 – Other.
All other instructions contained in the aforementioned Circulars shall, however, remain unchanged, the SBP said.
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SBP issues procedure for payment of tax against foreign assets declaration
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday issued procedure for deposit of tax against foreign assets under Assets Declaration Ordinance, 2019.
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SBP issues draft procedures for payment of duty, taxes under Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Friday issued draft procedure for payment of duty and taxes against declaration made to avail amnesty scheme.
According to draft text made available to PkRevenue.com, the SBP said that in pursuance of the section 9 of the Asset Declaration Ordinance, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Ordinance”), State Bank of Pakistan (hereinafter abbreviated as SBP) is pleased to notify the procedure for:
a) Method of conversion of value of assets held outside Pakistan in Pak Rupees.
b) Deposit of tax in foreign currency through State Bank of Pakistan; and
c) Repatriation of assets to Pakistan.
2. Short title and commencement:
i. The Procedure may be called Procedure under section (9) of the Asset Declaration Ordinance, 2019; and
ii. It shall be deemed to have come into force from XXth day of May 2019.
3. Method of Conversion of Value of Foreign Currency Denominated Assets in Pak Rupees:
i. The asset held outside Pakistan and foreign currency held in Pakistan shall be converted into PKR at such exchange rates1 as may be notified on daily basis by the SBP to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in respect of ten currencies i.e. AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, JPY, SAR, and USD.
ii. If the foreign currency denominated assets are in currencies other than those specified in clause 3(i), the taxpayer shall convert the said currency into PKR by using the following formula:
The arithmetic mean of Weighted Average Customer Exchange Rates (Buying & Selling)
Amount of assets in PKR = A x B x D / C where,
A = Amount of asset in currency other than currencies listed in 3(i) held outside Pakistan;
B = Number of USD per SDR to be taken from IMF website2;
C = Number of currency units in a currency other than those listed in 3(i)) per SDR3; and
D = Exchange Rate of USD with PKR as notified by the SBP under clause 3(i) for the applicable.
Illustration: The taxpayer has assets in Singapore Dollar amounting to 1,000 and files the declaration on May 16, 2019.
The rates from the IMF Website of preceding working day would be available and applicable for conversion.
Hence, the parities of USD, Singapore Dollar with SDR as of May 15, 2019 are 1.382330 and 1.891160 respectively.
Amount of asset in PKR = 1,000 ∗
1.382330∗141.34451.891160 = PKR. 102,881.94
4. Registration and Declaration of Assets and Deposit of Tax Thereon:
i. The taxpayer shall file his/her declaration on FBR Web Portal electronically by disclosing their assets held outside Pakistan, and foreign currency held in Pakistan, in PKR as converted under clause 3.
ii. The system will generate tax liability of the taxpayer in PKR by applying the relevant tax rate for each category of disclosed assets. The taxpayer has the option of discharging his/her liability either in USD or AED. After selection of tax payment currency, the system will compute the tax liability in PKR and USD/AED.
iii. The taxpayer will now visit the website: https://paysys.fbr.gov.pk to generate the PSID in PKR and USD/ AED. The sequential number of PSID will be
2 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) rates (Currency Units per SDR) accessible from https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/param_rms_mth.aspx
3 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) rates (Currency Units per SDR) accessible from https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/param_rms_mth.aspx recorded by the taxpayer in his/her own record, besides taking the print thereof.
5. Payment of tax by wire transfer to SBP Account:
a. Payment of tax in US Dollars:
i. After declaration of assets and generation of PSID as described in Para ‘4’ above, the tax liability as reflected in the PSID shall be remitted by wire transfer to the following account:
Receiver’s Correspondent Bank: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN
Receiving Bank Address: NEW YORK, U.S.A
Receiving Bank SWIFT Code: NBPAUS33
Beneficiary Customer Name: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN
Beneficiary Customer Address: I.I. CHUNDRIGAR ROAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN
Beneficiary Customer’s SWIFT Code: NBPAPKKAXXX
Beneficiary Customer’s Account No: XXXXXXXX (to be provided by NBP)
Payment Instructions: TRANSFER TO SBP COLLECTION A/C WITH NBP-KO
Taxpayer shall in the SWIFT message, bearing the necessary instructions above shall also include PSID No, CNIC, Date of Birth (DOB), and Place of Birth (POB) of the taxpayer.
ii. After receiving the money, the correspondent Bank will pass on the funds to the NBP-Karachi account maintained with them for collections of the scheme and inform NBP Karachi through SWIFT message.
iii. NBP-Karachi shall, after verifying receipt of the money in its account and necessary screening, access the FBR Portal and enter the PSID from SWIFT message in the system to access his/her details.
Thereafter, the concerned officer shall input the amount so received in the designated field. The system will match the amount received with the amount of PSID; eCPR will be generated if the amount received matches with the PSID amount.
In case of short payment, the system will generate SMS/ email for the taxpayers regarding the short payment. The short payment of up to USD. 100 can be deposited in cash with the designated NBP branches in major cities.
In order to avoid the hassle; the taxpayers should make sure that the amount received in the SBP account with NBP net of correspondent and other bank charges, is equal to or greater than the amount of PSID. The excess amount, if any, shall be credited to a temporary account to be closed after the culmination of the scheme.
iv. NBP – Karachi shall settle the foreign currency proceeds of the issued eCPRs into the Nostro account of SBP with NBP New York on a T+1 basis.
v. NBP- Karachi shall render summary of settlement of eCPRs in respect of which the settlement has been made in SBP Nostro Account. The summary inter-alia shall include the PKR equivalent of amount of liability as per PSID along with its equivalent in foreign currency.
vi. SBP shall credit the government account with the amount of PKR as accumulated through PSIDs and consequential exchange rate differential shall be on SBP account.
b. Payment of tax in UAE Dirham:
i. After declaration of assets and generation of PSID as described in Para ‘5’ above, the taxpayer shall arrange to remit the AED funds against the tax liability as reflected in the PSID and Form ‘A’ to SBP through official normal banking channels in the following SBP account:
Receiver’s Correspondent Bank: UNITED BANK LIMITED
Receiving Bank Address: ABU DHABI, UAE
Receiving Bank SWIFT Code: UNILAEAD
Beneficiary Customer Name: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN
Beneficiary Customer Address: I.I. CHUNDRIGAR ROAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN
Beneficiary Customer’s SWIFT Code: NBPAPKKAXXX
Beneficiary Customer’s Account No: XXXXXXXX (to be provided by NBP)
Payment Instructions: TRANSFER TO SBP COLLECTION A/C WITH NBP-KO
Taxpayer shall in the wire transfer, or SWIFT message, bearing the necessary instructions shall also include PSID No, CNIC, Date of Birth (DOB), and Place of Birth (POB) of the taxpayer.
ii. After receiving the money, the correspondent bank will pass on the funds to the NBP-Karachi account maintained with them for collections of the scheme and inform NBP Karachi through SWIFT message
iii. NBP-Karachi shall, after verifying receipt of the money in its account, access the FBR Portal and enter the PSID no from SWIFT message in the system to access his/her details.
Thereafter, the concerned officer shall input the amount so received in a designated field. The system will match the amount received with the amount of PSID; eCPR will be generated if the amount received matches with the PSID amount.
In case of short payment, the system will generate SMS/ email to the taxpayers regarding the short payment. The short payment of equivalent to up to USD 100 can be deposited in cash with the designated NBP branches in major cities.
In order to avoid the hassle; the taxpayers should make sure that the amount received in the SBP account with NBP net of correspondent and other bank charges, is equal to or greater than the amount of PSID.
The excess amount, if any, shall be credited to a temporary account to be closed after the culmination of the scheme.
iv. NBP – Karachi shall settle the foreign proceeds into the Nostro account of SBP with UBL – Abu Dhabi on a T+1 basis.
v. NBP- Karachi shall render a summary of settlement of eCPRs in respect of which the settlement has been made in SBP Nostro Account. The summary inter-alia shall include the PKR equivalent of amount of liability as per PSID along with its equivalent in foreign currency.
vi. SBP shall credit the government account with the amount of PKR as accumulated through PSIDs and consequential exchange rate differential shall be on SBP account.
6. Payment of Tax of Foreign Currency Held in Pakistan:
i. The following assets shall be included in the foreign currency held in Pakistan:
• Cash held by the declarant which is deposited into a bank account in the manner prescribed by the section 8(a) of the assets declaration ordinance 2019;
• Foreign Currency held in declarants own foreign currency bank account and retained in the said account in accordance with the provisions of Section 8(b) of the assets declaration ordinance 2019; and
• Face Value of the amount invested in Pakistan Banao Certificates (PBCs).
ii. The aforesaid assets shall be converted into Pak Rupee in accordance with the procedure given in Clause 3 above. The PKR value so computed shall be declared in Form-A along with Bank Name, Branch name and account number.
iii. The taxpayer will then generate a PSID in PKR and USD through https://paysys.fbr.gov.pk; the sequential number of which will be recorded by the taxpayer in his/her own record, besides taking the print thereof.
iv. The payment of such tax shall be made locally through local USD Clearing accounts of the bank maintained with the State Bank of Pakistan for which purpose the taxpayer may request their banker to issue a debit authority in favor of Chief Manager SBPBSC-KO, authorizing to debit the account to the tune of the tax liability. Debit authority must specify the PSID of the taxpayer, so as to enable the generation of eCPR.
7. Repatriation of Assets to Pakistan:
i. Taxpayers intending to repatriate their assets held outside Pakistan shall remit the same to Pakistan through banking channels in declarants’ own in PKR of FCY account in any bank in Pakistan.
ii. The Pakistani bank receiving the repatriated funds shall issue Asset Repatriation Certificate (ARC) which shall include the details such as Name of Remitter, Amount in FCY, and IBAN of taxpayer. Each ARC shall have a unique reference number, which the taxpayer shall use to report the same to FBR.
iii. The bank shall issue ARC under these rules only in respect of remittances on or after the date of issuance of this procedure.
iv. The declaration filed by the taxpayer shall be accepted by the Portal only after incorporating the following information on the FBR Portal in respect of repatriated assets:
a) Number and Date of Issuance of ARC;
b) Issuing Bank;
c) Address of the Branch maintaining the account of the taxpayer; and
d) IBAN of the account in which the repatriated assets are credited.
v. SBP may either as a part of its regular inspection or through a special inspection may examine the record of all such certificates issued by the bank so as to confirm their accuracy and conformity with underlying record and transaction trail.
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Pakistan’s forex reserves fall by $768 million
KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have slipped by $768 million to $15.126 billion by weed ended May 17, 2019 from $15.894 billion a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The official reserves of the SBP fell by $788 million to $8.057 billion by week ended May 17, 2019 from $8.845 billion a week ago.
The central bank said that the official reserves declined due to debt servicing and other office payment.
The foreign exchange reserves held by other commercial banks, however, increased by $20 million to $7.069 billion as compared with $7.049 billion.
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SBP raises record Rs3,100 billion through MTBs auction at cut-off yield higher than key policy rate
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised record huge amount of Rs3,100.71 billion through an auction of Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) at a cut-off yield much higher than the key policy rate of 12.25 percent.
The central bank on Wednesday received bids in 3- and six-month treasury bills worth Rs3,176.56 billion at face value of Rs3,268.59 billion. The SBP has not received bids for 12-month treasury bills.
The SBP accepted bids of Rs3,100 billion at face value of Rs3,190 billion. The central bank accepted Rs3,099 billion against three-month MTBs at face value of Rs3,188.99 billion at cut-off yield of 12.7495 percent. For benchmark six-month treasury bills an amount of Rs1.41 billion were accepted at face value of Rs1.5 billion and at cut-off yield of 12.80 percent.
The amount raised was much higher than the target set for this auction. The central bank had set Rs600 billion target for the auction.
Market analysts said that banks were still anticipating further increase in interest rate in next monetary policy announcement.
In the recent monetary policy the SBP increased the key policy rate by 150 basis points to 12.25 percent for next two months starting May 21, 2019.
The SBP conducts auction of securities for the government to meet budgetary deficit. The fiscal deficit has been increased to 5 percent during July – March 2018/2019, which is already cross the target of 4.9 percent for full fiscal year.
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Current account deficit narrows by 27 percent in July – April: SBP
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Current Account Deficit has narrowed by 27 percent during first 10 months of current fiscal year owing to fall imports and higher inflows of foreign remittances.
The current account deficit declined to $11.586 billion during July – April 2018/2019 as compared with deficit of $15.864 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday.
The fall in current account deficit is mainly attributed to reduction in trade deficit. The trade deficit reduced by 12.82 percent to $26.3 billion during first 10 months of current fiscal year as compared with $30.169 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The import bill fell by 8 percent to $45.47 billion during July – April 2018/2019 as compared with $49.36 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year. However, exports growth was flat at $19.169 billion when compared with $19.19 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The foreign remittances sent home by overseas Pakistan grew by 8.45 percent to $17.87 billion during first 10 months of the last fiscal year as compared with $16.48 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.