March 15, 2023 (MLN): The federal government on Wednesday extended the last date for the encashment of withdrawn prize bonds of Rs7500, 15,000, 25,000, and Rs40,000 until June 30, 2023.
This decision has been taken after considering the fact that some of the prize bond holders could not get their bonds redeemed by the earlier deadline of June 30, 2022.
According to the government, the investors of these prize bonds have three options for encashment or exchange: they can either encash the bonds at face value, convert them to premium prize bonds of Rs25,000 and/or Rs40,000 (registered), or replace them with Special Savings Certificates (SSC) or Defense Savings Certificates (DSC).
The prize bonds can be redeemed from the SBP Banking Services Corporation office and branches of commercial banks across the country till the extended deadline of June 30, 2023.
The central bank has already issued necessary instructions to commercial banks to accept requests from the general public for encashment or exchange of the prize bonds till the new deadline.
It is important to note that these prize bonds shall not be encashable or exchangeable after the expiry of the extended deadline, making them worthless. Therefore, the general public is encouraged to avail this final opportunity and get their holdings redeemed before the deadline.
This decision is expected to provide relief to a large number of investors who were unable to encash their prize bonds before the earlier deadline.
