Loan write-offs: SBP to issue new guidelines

New circular will allow banks to retrieve loans written off under Circular 29.

ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a proposal by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to issue a new circular to recover loans written off under Circular 29.

A three member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing the loan waiver case in Islamabad.

The draft of the new circular was presented in court today. It will allow banks to retrieve loans written off earlier. A new commission, headed by Justice (retired) Jamshed, will be formed to analyse conditions under which the loans had been written off. The commission will help determine genuine write offs and loans written off on political grounds.


The Supreme Court had directed representatives of banks in a loan write-off case to draft guidelines for a commission looking into Rs256 billion in loans that have been written off in the last 40 years.

Earlier, the SBP had informed the court that it was ready to issue a new circular in order to formalise the scope of the three-member commission’s proceedings. Syed Iqbal Haider, counsel for the SBP, apprised the bench that SBP Governor Shahid Kardar had given his consent for the issuance of the new circular.

The court has adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.
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