November 16, 2003	Sunday	Ramazan 20, 1424

KARACHI, Nov 15: The government has raised Rs6.959 billion domestic debt in the first three months of this fiscal year through two tailor-made national saving schemes — one for the pensioners and the other for the widows.

The latest statistics posted on the State Bank website show the government raised Rs4.823 billion during July-September 2003 through pensioners’ benefit accounts, specially designed for retired employees of the public sector and of autonomous bodies. During the same period, the government also raised Rs2.136 billion through sale of Behbood (welfare) saving certificates to widows.

The government pays an annual return of 10.08 per cent on these two schemes, but it is subject to change every six months, when the rates of return on all National Saving Schemes are revised. The next revision is due in January 2004, and the government may have to make another cut in the rates of return on NSS to tag them more closely with the yields on its long-term bonds.

Linking the rates of return on NSS more closely with the yields on Pakistan Investment Bonds is one of the several conditions of the IMF tagged with its $1.5 billion Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. The three-year facility offered to Islamabad in December 2001 will expire by the end of next year.

PENSIONER ACCOUNTS: Pakistan launched 10-year pensioners’ benefit accounts in February 2003 for selected retired people and offered a cool 11.04 per cent return on the same. The scheme covers about