January 14, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 13, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 13: The State Bank on Friday injected Rs20.2 billion into the market to bring down money rates because of scarcity of liquidity.

The SBP injected huge money through open market operation (OMO) at the rate of 8.05 per cent. The central bank injected the money just for three days.

Analysts said the market was short of liquidity in the wake of huge outflows because of Eid. The overnight rate remained at the highest level of eight per cent.

Banks require extra liquidity to meet their weekly cash reserves requirement with the State Bank on each Friday. The analysts said that the market was short of liquidity and the SBP helped banks meet their requirement.

They said the SBP might conduct another OMO to suck up extra liquidity on Saturday as the market would receive Rs18.5 billion the same day as a result of maturity of OMOs.