July 24, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 27, 1427

ON July 19, the State Bank of Pakistan received poor response at the auction of 3, 6 and 12-month Treasury bills following increase in the cash reserve requirement of the banks.

The central bank received total bids worth Rs15.04 billion. It picked up Rs10.42 billion for 12 month paper, Rs4.12 billion for 3 month paper and Rs211 million for 6 month T-bills.

According to the weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended July 1, 2006, deposits and other accounts of the scheduled banks stood at Rs2,894.932 billion, larger by Rs108.201 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,786.731 billon. Commercial banks deposits showed a rise of Rs107.374 billion over the week to Rs2,881.791 billion against preceding week’s Rs2,774.417 billion, and of specialized banks it rose by Rs0.827 billion to Rs13.141 billion, over previous week’s Rs12.314 billion.

Borrowings by all scheduled banks increased during the week over preceding week’s figure. It rose to Rs374.582 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs361.080 billion, a rise of Rs13.502 billion. This was primarily due to a rise in the borrowings by commercial banks, which increased to Rs287.429 billion against previous week’s Rs273.926 billion, or by Rs13.503 billion, while borrowings by specialised banks stood at Rs87.154 billion.

Gross advances stood at Rs2,179.810 billion in the week under review, a rise of Rs52.422 million over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,127.388 billion. Advances by commercial banks rose to Rs2,087.435 billion against earlier week’s figure of Rs2,035.785 billion, larger by Rs51.65 billion, while of specialized banks it stood at Rs92.374 billion.

Investments of all scheduled banks declined in the week by Rs0.686 billion to Rs793.898 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs794.584 billion. Commercial banks investment level declined to Rs775.464 billion, from earlier week’s Rs775.840 billion, smaller by Rs0.376 billion, while of specialized banks it stood at Rs18.435 billion against previous week’s Rs18.744 billion, a decline of Rs0.309 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all scheduled banks increased by Rs4.561 billion during the week to stand at Rs278.457 billion against earlier week’s Rs273.896 billion. The figure for commercial banks rose to Rs276.340 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs272.157 billion, a rise of Rs4.183 billion. For specialized banks there was a rise of Rs0.378 billion to Rs2.117 billion, against earlier week’s figure of Rs1.739 billion.

Total assets of scheduled banks stood at Rs3,801.712 billion, an increase of Rs128.715 billion, over preceding week’s figure of Rs3,672.997 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks assets stood at Rs3,685.904 billion, higher by Rs126.865 billion over previous week’s figure of Rs3,559.039 billion. Specialized banks assets rose by Rs1.850 billion to Rs115.808 billion against previous week’s Rs113.958 billion.