While personal deposits in Pakistan grew 13.1% in 2014, personal advances increased 9.8% nationwide to clock up at Rs355.5 billion. STOCK IMAGE
KARACHI:
Sindh posted the lowest year-on-year growth rate in personal deposits among all provinces and regions of Pakistan in 2014, latest banking data shows.
The outstanding position of personal deposits in Sindh was Rs1.2 trillion at the end of 2014, which is up 10.2% from a year ago. Sindh’s share stands at 30.4% in total personal deposits in Pakistan, which amounted to over Rs4.1 trillion at the end of 2014.
According to statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, growth in personal deposits in the country outpaced the corresponding increase in personal advances last year.
While personal deposits in Pakistan grew 13.1% in 2014, personal advances increased 9.8% nationwide to clock up at Rs355.5 billion.
Sindh’s growth rates in both personal deposits and personal advances in 2014 remained lower than the nationwide, respective averages. However, the reverse was true for Punjab, which fared better than the country-wide average in both categories last year.
In absolute terms, Punjab’s personal deposits were 58% higher than those of Sindh at the end of 2014. In contrast, outstanding personal advances in Sindh were 2.2 times of the comparable figure for Punjab.
Over 61% of total outstanding personal advances in Pakistan belonged to Sindh at the end of 2014. The second largest share in advances (27.5%) was of Punjab last year. This means Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Balochistan, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), FATA and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) collectively had about 11% share in the country’s outstanding personal advances at the end of the last year.
As for the banking preferences of K-P residents, data shows they are less likely to take out personal loans from banks compared to their counterparts in other provinces of the country. The year-on-year growth rate in personal advances remained only 2.9% in K-P as opposed to the average increase of 9.8% nationwide last year.
However, personal deposits in K-P increased 18% to Rs332.9 billion at the end of 2014, posting a higher growth rate than the national average.
Personal banking in G-B seems to have undergone a massive expansion in 2014. Its growth rates in personal deposits and advances last year far exceeded the nationwide, respective averages.
The percentage increase in personal deposits and advances in Balochistan was higher than the nationwide, respective averages. However, personal deposits in the insurgency-hit province were still very small in absolute terms. For example, personal deposits in Islamabad alone were 3.7 times higher than those in Balochistan. In fact, personal deposits in Islamabad exceeded the combined personal deposits of Balochistan, G-B, FATA and AJ&K.
There were a total of 37.8 million bank accounts in Pakistan at the end of the last fiscal year, according to another SBP publication. More than 72.2% of all bank accounts in Pakistan belong to the category of personal accounts.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2015.
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