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Friday March 29, 2024

SBP asks dealers to initiate wheat export subsidy claims

KARACHI: The central bank on Thursday instructed banks and non-bank financial institutions to process subsidy claims by the wheat exporters following the directives of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.The State Bank issued mechanism for the subsidy payments claims, saying authorised dealers in foreign exchange to forward the

By our correspondents
March 06, 2015
KARACHI: The central bank on Thursday instructed banks and non-bank financial institutions to process subsidy claims by the wheat exporters following the directives of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
The State Bank issued mechanism for the subsidy payments claims, saying authorised dealers in foreign exchange to forward the requests of the wheat/wheat flour exporters to the foreign exchange operation department of or the chief manager, field office of SBP, banking services corporation (BSC) for approval.
The government allowed the export of 1.2 million tons of wheat this year as the country expects to harvest a bumper crop. The government has also granted $55/ton rebate on wheat export from the Punjab and $45/ton on wheat export from Sindh.
According to the SBP circular, the exporters require to provide a letter from food department of respective provincial government, confirming procurement of specific quantity of wheat/wheat flour along with e-form.
“Wheat/wheat flour must be procured and lifted latest by March 31, 2015 for Sindh and by April 15, 2015 for Punjab,” it said. “The export should take place within 30 days of the respective lifting date to be eligible for the subsidy.”
The central bank said subsidy will be allowed only after full realisation of export proceeds against e-form.
The exporters will approach foreign exchange operation department through their authorized dealer claiming the subsidy within 90 days of full realisation of export proceeds or within 90 days from the date of shipment if export is made against 100 percent advance payment.
No claims will be entertained after aforementioned time period, it added.
The SBP-BSC will scrutinize the claims within 30 days of receipt of subsidy claim.
“Discrepant claim will be returned to respective AD and the same must be resubmitted after removing the discrepancy within 30 days of return, after which no such application will be entertained,” the central bank said.
The circular further stated that approved claim will be disbursed to respective authorised dealer in its account maintained with SBP-BSC for onward credit to the exporter’s account within 24 hours of disbursement.
“Rate of exchange applicable for calculation of Pak rupee subsidy will be the buying rate of weighted average customer exchange rates issued by domestic markets and monetary management department of SBP on the date of final realisation of export proceeds against e-form,” it added.