Unfounded autonomy

This refers to the news report, ‘Top three banks hold major chunk of federal, provincial deposits’ (October 26). The IMF has rightly required the government to transfer all funds of the federal government to a single account of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). It is surprising that the government’s heavy deposits have been kept in any private banks at all. The way the government has been handling public money is regrettable.

Commercial banks have assumed so much powers that they keep on imposing oppressive conditions upon customers without any checks by the SBP. It seems as though the entire government is being controlled by the corporate sector, as policies strengthen the corporate sector. The statement by the governor of the SBP that the devaluation of the rupee benefits overseas Pakistanis was a shocking eye-opener of the thought process of those who head key institutions in the country. These points raise an important question: should the SBP be entirely independent?

Sikander Aqeel Ansari

Islamabad