AT the auction on August 1, the yield on treasury bills rose. Earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan had announced it was increasing its discount rate to 10 from 9.5 per cent. The cut off and weighted average annual yield on 6-month treasury bills rose to 9.0987 from 8.9017 per cent, on 12 month treasury bills, it was 9.3990 and 9.3727 per cent respectively.

On August 2, the SBP sold Rs15.70 billion worth of Treasury bills, through five day repo contracts at 8.95 percent to mop up funds from the money market.

According to the weekly statement of position of all scheduled banks for the week ended July 21, 2007, deposits and other accounts of the scheduled banks stood at Rs3,375.819 billion, lower by Rs2.58 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs3,378.399 billion.

Commercial banks deposits showed a fall of Rs2.906 billion over the week to Rs3,363.232 billion, against preceding week’s Rs3,366.138 billion. Specialized banks deposits stood at Rs12.587 billion, against preceding week’s Rs12.260 billion, a rise of Rs0.327 billion.

Borrowings by all scheduled banks increased during the week over preceding week’s figure. It rose to Rs418.652 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs417.409 billion, a rise of Rs1.243 billion. This was primarily due to a rise in the borrowings by commercial banks, which rose to Rs337.350 billion against previous week’s Rs335.977 billion, or by Rs1.353 billion.

Borrowings by specialised banks stood at Rs81.302 billion, against preceding week’s figure of Rs81.412 billion, a fall of Rs0.11 billion.

Gross advances stood at Rs2,430.933 billion in the week under review, a decline of Rs3.736 billion over preceding week’s figure of Rs2,434.669 billion. Advances by commercial banks declined to Rs2,335.957 billion against earlier week’s figure of Rs2,339.935 billion, or by Rs3.978 billion. Advances of specialized banks stood at Rs94.977 billion, higher by Rs0.243 billion over earlier week’s figure of Rs94.734 billion.

Investments of all scheduled banks increased in the week by Rs34.252 billion to Rs1,166.763 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs1,132.511 billion. Commercial banks investment rose to Rs1,155.550 billion, from earlier week’s Rs1,120.916 billion, larger by Rs34.634 billion. Specialised banks investment stood at Rs11.213 billion, against preceding week’s Rs11.595 billion, a decline by Rs0.382 billion.

Cash and balances with treasury banks of all scheduled banks declined by Rs6.34 billion during the week to stand at Rs354.838 billion against earlier week’s Rs348.498 billion. The figure for commercial banks stood at Rs352.264 billion against preceding week’s figure of Rs345.984 billion, a rise of Rs6.28 billion.

Total assets of scheduled banks stood at Rs4,525.165 billion, lower by Rs9.224 billion, over preceding week’s figure of Rs4,534.389 billion. Meanwhile, commercial banks assets stood at Rs4,409.456 billion, smaller by Rs9.492 billion over previous week’s figure of Rs4,418.948 billion. Specialised banks assets fell to Rs115.709 billion, or by Rs0.268 billion over previous week’s Rs115.441 billion.