THE State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs9.8 billion worth of Treasury Bills on August 25 in a six day repo at 8.4 per cent to mop up funds from the money market. Two days earlier it had sold Rs14.5 billion of T-bills at 8.35 per cent.

According to the weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended August 5, 2006, deposits and other accounts of the scheduled banks stood at Rs2,818.436 billion, higher by Rs15.111 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,813.325 billon. Commercial banks deposits showed a rise of Rs15.316 billion over the week to Rs2,816.038 billion against preceding week’s Rs2,800.722 billion, while of specialised banks it fell by Rs0.204 billion to Rs12.399 billion, over previous week’s Rs12.603 billion.

Borrowings by all scheduled banks increased during the week. It rose to Rs384.269 billion over preceding week’s Rs359.426 billion, a rise of Rs24.843 billion. This was primarily due to an increase in the borrowings by commercial banks, which rose to Rs299.077 billion against previous week’s Rs276.212 billion, or by Rs22.865 billion, while borrowings by specialised banks stood at Rs85.192 billion.

Gross advances stood at Rs2,184.386 billion in the week under review, a rise of Rs6.488 billion over preceding week’s Rs2,177.898 billion. Advances by commercial banks rose to Rs2,089.613 billion against earlier week’s Rs2,083.516 billion, larger by Rs6.097 billion, while of specialised banks it stood at Rs94.773 billion.

Investments of all scheduled banks declined in the week by Rs19.086 billion to Rs811.713 billion against preceding week’s Rs830.799 billion. Commercial banks investment decreased to Rs797.318 billion, from earlier week’s Rs816.590 billion, smaller by Rs19.272 billion, while of specialised banks it stood at Rs14.395 billion against previous week’s Rs14.209 billion, smaller by Rs0.186 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all scheduled banks decreased by Rs13.156 billion during the week to stand at Rs288.242 billion against earlier week’s Rs301.398 billion. The figure for commercial banks also fell to Rs286.056 billion against preceding week’s Rs299.95 billion, a fall of Rs13.139 billion. For specialised banks there was a fall of Rs0.017 billion to Rs2.186 billion, against earlier week’s Rs2.203 billion.

Total assets of scheduled banks stood at Rs3,767.055 billion, a rise of Rs41.234 billion, over preceding week’s Rs3,725.821 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks assets stood at Rs3,654.640 billion, higher by Rs40.644 billion over previous week’s Rs3,613.996 billion. Specialised banks assets rose by Rs0.589 billion to Rs112.414 billion against previous week’s Rs111.825 billion.