Banks waived Rs4.653bln loans since March 2010

ISLAMABAD: Minister for law and justice Zahid Hamid on Tuesday informed the Senate that under the laid down guidelines of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), 19 banks had written off principle amount of Rs4.653 billion since March 2010.

Responding to various supplementary questions during the question hour, Hamid clarified the loans were waived off by the banks and the government had nothing to do with it.

According to the breakup provided by the law minister, the highest amount was waived off by United Bank Limited at Rs971.080 million, followed by Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) at Rs819.947 million, Bank Islami (Ex KASAB Bank) at Rs540 million, NIB Bank Rs440.177 million, Allied Bank Rs271.583 million, Bank Al Falah Rs230 million, and Faysal Bank at Rs110.570 million.

The banks which waived less than 100 million included Silk Bank that relinquished Rs50.212 million, Summit Bank Rs12.480 million, JS Bank Rs10.833 million, Al Baraka Islamic Bank Rs3.250 million, Habib Metropolitan Bank Rs3.086 million, Zarai Taraqiyati Bank Rs1.187.365 million, and Askari Bank Limited Rs1.027 million.

Banks that gave a waiver of less than Rs1 million included The Bank of Punjab at Rs0.460 million, Bank Al Habib Limited at Rs0.255 million, Soneri Bank Rs0.248 million, and SAMBA Bank Rs0.165 million. The lowest amount of Rs0.065 million was relinquished by First Women Bank.

To another question Zahid Hamid said efforts were underway to gradually adopt the Islamic mode of financing in the country. He said SBP allowed only three types of Islamic banking methods, whereas every bank operating in the country had its own Shariah Board to seek guidance for Islamic banking.

The minister said over 2,000 branches of 21 banks operated across the country to provide Islamic banking to customers, in addition to other services. To a question he said general sales tax (GST) on gas and industrial sector has not been increased. He said 17 per cent standard rate of GST on supply of gas to industrial sector was being charged.

Hamid said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) charged a sum of Rs208.153 million from marriage halls and marquees in Islamabad under Income tax and GST heads during fiscal year 2016/17.