SBP extends deadline for refinancing scheme

Move is aimed at helping exporters to continue to get financing facility

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has extended the deadline for refinancing scheme for exporters till August 31, 2018 in order to allow them to continue getting credit without any interruption at comparatively lower rates.

The exporters will be required to submit documents - EE-1 and EF-1 forms - stating their export volumes for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 to avail themselves of the new credit line for exports.

“Limits sanctioned by banks for individual exporters under part-II of the scheme for the year 2017-18 will continue till August 31, 2018 in a bid to enable them to avail financing facilities pending preparation of EE-1 statements,” the central bank said in a notification on Friday.



At present, the exporters are required to submit EE-1 statement for the year 2017-18 by August 31, 2018. Banks would, therefore, not be in a position to work out the revised entitlement of limits for each exporter under part-II of the scheme for the year 2018-19 in time. In order to ensure that financing facilities are available to exporters till the finalisation of new limits, it has been decided that present limits will continue up to August 31, 2018.



“Banks are advised to inform exporters that they should ensure timely submission of EE-1/EF-1 statements in their own interests and avoid delay in expectation of the extension in deadline,” it added.

The facility under part-II is self-regulating and exporters should be able to work out their earnings in 2017-18, estimate the entitlement of their limit for next year and accordingly adjust their existing borrowings till June 30, 2018 to avoid utilisation of excess facilities during the period of rollover which would be subject to a non-refundable fine.



“Requests from banks for limits under the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Islamic Export Refinance Scheme (IERS) for the year 2018-19 should be submitted separately by June 25, 2018 to enable us to finalise the limits,” the central bank said.

“Banks should ensure submission of their requests for limits within due time. Furthermore, the existing limits of banks under EFS/IERS will continue till new limits are notified.”

Long-Term Financing Facility

In another notification, the SBP said the Long-Term Financing Facility (LTFF) limit sanctioned in favour of banks/development finance institutions (DFIs) for the year 2017-18 were due to expire on June 30, 2018.

In order to ensure that financing facilities are available to borrowers till the finalisation of new limits for 2018-19, it has been decided to continue the existing limits till fresh ones are released. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2018.

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