October 16, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 22, 1427

ON October 12, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs29,900 million worth Treasury Bills in a six-day and 21-day outright repo operation to mop up funds from the money market.

Treasury bills worth Rs26,900 million were sold in a six-day repo at 8.45 per cent, while Rs3,000 million worth of T-bills were sold in a 21-day repo operation at 8.55 per cent.

According to the weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended September 30, 2006, deposits and other accounts of the scheduled banks stood at Rs2,816.450 billion, higher by Rs97.693 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,718.757 billion. Commercial banks deposits showed an increase of Rs97.387 billion over the week to Rs2,803.949 billion, against preceding week’s Rs2,706.562 billion, while of specialized banks it rose by Rs0.306 billion to Rs12.501 billion, over previous week’s Rs12.195 billion.

Borrowings by all scheduled banks increased during the week over preceding week’s figure. It rose to Rs385.035 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs381.429 billion, a rise of Rs3.606 billion. This was primarily due to an increase in the borrowings by commercial banks, which rose to Rs296.880 billion against previous week’s Rs293.499 billion, or by Rs3.381 billion, while borrowings by specialised banks stood at Rs88.155 billion, higher by Rs0.225 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs87.930 billion.

Gross advances stood at Rs2,231.665 billion in the week under review, an increase of Rs32.405 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,199.260 billion. Advances by commercial banks rose to Rs2,133.754 billion against earlier week’s figure of Rs2,100.587 billion, larger by Rs33.167 billion, while of specialized banks it stood at Rs97.912 billion.

Investments of all scheduled banks decreased in the week by Rs24.955 billion to Rs790.057 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs815.012 billion. Commercial banks investment fell to Rs777.667 billion, from earlier week’s Rs802.764 billion, smaller by Rs24.345 billion, while of specialized banks it stood at Rs12.390 billion against previous week’s Rs12.248 billion, larger by Rs0.142 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all scheduled banks increased by Rs27.068 billion during the week to stand at Rs319.300 billion against earlier week’s Rs292.232 billion. The figure for commercial banks also rose to Rs317.113 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs290.049 billion, a rise of Rs27.064 billion. For specialized banks there was an increase of Rs0.004 billion to Rs2.187 billion, against earlier week’s figure of Rs2.183 billion.

Total assets of scheduled banks stood at Rs3,798.801 billion, higher by Rs70.07 billion, over preceding week’s figure of Rs3,728.731 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks assets stood at Rs3,680.556 billion, higher by Rs68.143 billion over previous week’s figure of Rs3,612.413 billion. Specialized banks assets rose by Rs1.927 billion to Rs118.245 billion against previous week’s Rs116.318 billion.