Covering wages, salaries: Banks approve Rs126b financing

Over 1.2 million employees covered under State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme

KARACHI:

Commercial banks have approved financing of Rs125.9 billion for 2,068 businesses till July 10, 2020 for covering wages and salaries of over 1.2 million employees under the State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme to Support Employment and Prevent Layoff of Workers.

According to a statement issued by the central bank on Monday, a large number of applications were received by banks following the announcement of the scheme in March 2020, however, the pace of approval remained slow. “With continuous efforts of the SBP, banks streamlined their processes and enhanced pace of loan approvals,” it said.

The central bank pointed out that by the end of April 2020, only 18% of loan applications were approved and the number soared to 76% by July 10, 2020. Similarly, the amount of loans approved against the requested amount also improved, the SBP said. It underlined that the acceptance ratio of the amount of financing increased from 26% at the end of April 2020 to 82% on July 10, 2020.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2020.

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