Karachi: The Central Bank of Pakistan yesterday provided Rs 575 billion 80 crore to the country’s banks through open market operations to ensure stability in the banking system.
This amount has been provided to the banks for their financial needs through 3 different bids for 8 days.
According to the State Bank, the central bank received these bids at an interest rate of 13.07 to 13.10 percent, after which the central bank decided to issue the provision by approving all the bids at a total of 13.07 percent.
Speaking to Express in this regard, Moaz Azam, Head of Research at Optimus Capital Management, said that this is a routine procedure under which the central bank ensures that there is sufficient money in the banking system.
Moaz Azam further said that if we examine the rate of return on short-term bonds, we see a slight decline in it, which was 12.50 percent on December 24, but on December 26, this rate decreased to 12.49 percent.
According to Tahir Abbas, Director Equities of Arif Habib Limited, the ratio of deposits to advances in the banking sector has increased to almost 50 percent, which was 47.8 percent during the same month last year.
Earlier, in August 2024, this ratio was 38.4 percent, but now it is at the current level, meaning that deposits have increased by 1.6 percent during this period, while advances have also increased by 27.6 percent.
If we look at Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, Pakistan had reserves of $16.37 billion as of the week ending December 20, of which the central bank had $11.85 billion while private banks had $4.51 billion.
Overall, by the end of last week, foreign exchange reserves had decreased by $228 million. Similarly, if we look at the value of the rupee, the value of the dollar decreased on Thursday and one dollar was equal to 278 rupees, which is 37 Pakistani rupees.
