AT the auction on August 31, the yield on six-month Treasury Bills remained unchanged. The cut-off yield on six-month and 12-month paper remained unchanged at 8.1388 per cent and 8.7907 per cent, while on three-month bills it raised to 8.10 per cent from 7.9197 per cent.

At the auction, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs4.372 billion of 6-month bills, Rs94.388 billion of 3-month bills and Rs7.125 billion of the 12-month paper.

According to the weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended August 20, 2005, deposits and other accounts of the scheduled banks stood at Rs2,379.49 billion, an increase of Rs0.777 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,378.71 billon. Commercial banks deposits showed an increase of Rs830 million over the week to Rs2,366.15 billion, while of specialized banks it fell by Rs54 million to Rs13.336 million.

Borrowings by all scheduled banks declined to Rs293.25 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs304.15 billion, a fall of Rs10.9 billion. This was primarily due to a drop in borrowings by commercial banks, which fell to Rs212.01 billion against previous week’s Rs222.87 billion, a fall of Rs10.86 billion.

Gross advances stood at Rs1,782.78 billion in the week under review, an increase of Rs0.48 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs1,782.30 billion. This increase was accounted by more lending by specialized banks, whose figure rose to Rs109.10 billion, against preceding week’s Rs107.98 billion. Advances by commercial banks had fallen to Rs1,673.68 billion against earlier week’s figure of Rs1,674.32 billion or by Rs0.64 billion.

Investment of all scheduled banks rose in the week to Rs745.08 billion, or by Rs16.31 billion from preceding week’s figure of Rs728.77 billion. Commercial banks investment level rose to Rs734.41 billion from earlier week’s Rs718.18 billion or by Rs10.59 billion, while for specialized banks it stood at Rs10.67 billion against previous week’s Rs10.59 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks recorded a rise of Rs10.03 billion during the week to stand at Rs220.76 billion against earlier week’s Rs210.73 billion. The figure for commercial banks jumped to Rs219.17 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs209.28 billion, a rise of Rs9.89 billion. For specialized banks the rise was to the tune of Rs0.133 billion to Rs1.588 billion.

Total assets of scheduled banks stood at Rs3,185.58 billion, a decrease of Rs10.34 billion, over preceding week’s figure of Rs3,195.92 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks assets stood at Rs3,075.37 billion, lower by Rs9.38 billion over previous week’s figure of Rs3,084.75 billion. Specialized banks assets fell by Rs0.95 billion to Rs110.215 billion against previous week’s Rs111.17 billion.