KARACHI: The old national debt retirement programme has almost ended as the government retired most of the debt while entire foreign currency deposits were repaid, said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.

The federal government launched the National Debt Retirement Programme (NDRP) to pay off the ever-increasing national debt in 1997. Funds in the NDRP were accepted from individuals, firms, companies and institutions as donations (NDRP-I), Qarz-e-Hasna (NDRP-II) and term deposits (NDRP-III). A total of Rs1.2 billion was received in local currency and $178 million was received in foreign currency under the programme.

The deposits under NDRP-I (donations) were non-refundable whereas deposits under NDRP-II and NDRP-III were for a minimum period of two years. Depositors were issued a receipt or certificate against deposits under NDRP-II by banks whereas special saving certificates (SSC)/defence saving certificates (DSC) were issued against deposits under NDRP-III by the Central Directorate of National Savings, Ministry of Finance.

After the maturity, the depositors were able to encash their amounts at par in the case of NDRP-II and as per the terms and conditions of SSC and DSC for deposits under NDRP-III. Out of total receipts of Rs1.2bn in local currency, Rs823m were donations and Rs408m were in the form of Qarz-e-Hasna and term deposits.

As of now, only Rs12m has not been encashed or reclaimed by depositors. Similarly, out of total foreign currency receipts of $178m, $28m was donations and remaining $150m was Qarz-e-Hasna and term deposits. “Almost all foreign currency deposits have been repaid,” said the SBP.

The SBP said the public was informed through a press release on March 29 to approach respective banks to get certificates encashed. There are still complaints that depositors are facing difficulties in the encashment of certificates.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2017