ON August 3, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs13.375 billion worth of six-month Treasury bills, less than half the demand of Rs26.875 billion. It raised the cut-off yield on the T-bills from 7.9869 per cent to 8.0954 per cent. The weighted average yield on 6-month bills also went up from 7.9677 to 8.0231 per cent.

The State Bank of Pakistan in the Monetary Policy Statement for the period January – June 2005, has stated that interest rates are expected to continue to rise until inflationary pressures are significantly eased off.

The weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended July 23, 2005 has been prepared on the basis of revised format. As such it cannot be compared to preceding weeks. The figures pertain to domestic operations only.

Deposits and other accounts of all scheduled banks stood at Rs2,420.96 billion for the week ended July 23, where commercial banks deposits totalled Rs2,407.4 billion and specialized banks Rs13.56 billion.

Borrowings amounted to Rs287.8 billion where commercial banks borrowings were Rs214.1 billion and the balance was accounted for by specialized banks.

Gross advances stood at Rs1,775.11 billion, which after provisions of Rs103.5 billion amounted to Rs1,671.56 billion. Advances net of provision of all commercial banks were to the tune of Rs1,607.68 billion, while for specialized banks it was Rs63.89 billion.

Scheduled banks investments amounted to Rs765.86 billion, with investments by commercial banks making up for Rs758.97 billion and of specialized banks Rs6.88 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks stood at Rs227.88 billion for all scheduled banks, with commercial banks accounting for the bulk – Rs226.54 billion and specialized banks Rs1.34 billion.

Total assets stood at Rs3,220.36 billion, where commercial banks assets were Rs3,119.40 billion and specialized banks Rs100.96 billion.