Currency swap arrangement with China becomes operational: SBP

07 May, 2013

KARACHI: A bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement (CSA) between the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the People's Bank of China (PBoC) amounting to Chinese Yuan (CNY) 10 billion and PKR 140 billion is being implemented from today after issuance of necessary instructions to banks and completion of operational formalities with PBoC.

A SBP statement here on Tuesday said that the landmark bilateral CSA was signed between SBP and PBoC by SBP Governor, Yaseen Anwar and PBoC Deputy Governor, DU Jinfu in December 2011 in Islamabad.

The implementation guidelines from SBP: Currency Swap Agreement between the two Central Banks will give a positive signal to the market on the availability of liquidity of other country's currency in the onshore market.

The arrangement will augment the pool of liquidity available to finance bilateral trade between the two countries, supplementing the already available sources of liquidity.

In order to ensure transparency in determination of market interest rates, the State Bank of Pakistan has decided to conduct competitive auctions of Chinese Yuan (CNY) Loan Facility.

As part of the implementation guidelines, SBP has also announced an Auction of Chinese Yuan Loan Facility. Based on the participation of banks in this auction, SBP will draw on the Swap Line and provide CNY to banks in Pakistan.

Banks will on-lend this liquidity to importers/exporters involved in trade denominated in CNY. At maturity, the importer/exporter will repay the foreign currency to the lending bank, which in turn will repay to the respective central bank.

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