November 2, 2018 (MLN): The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) profits for fiscal year 18 have been reported at Rs.175.6 billion (-26%), whereas last year, the profits were recorded at Rs.238 billion. This marks a dip worth Rs.62.4 billion over the year.
A thorough look at SBP’s Annual Performance Review 2017-18 divulges that this drop is mainly attributed to an exchange loss worth Rs.72 billion during the year, while last year, SBP earned exchange gains of Rs.24.6 billion.
On the other hand, general administrative and other expenses have been marked at Rs.27.7 billion, up by 21%.
The report has revealed that the number of branchless banking accounts have reached 39.2 million, which demonstrates growth of 43.6%.
The recently published World Bank Group – Global Findex Report 2017 showed that account holders in Pakistan have increased from 13pc to 21pc of the adult population over two years,” stated SBP’s report.
Moreover, disbursements grew by 38% to Rs.972.6 billion. In terms of outreach, 450,000 new borrowers were provided agriculture finance, increasing their number to 3.7m.
