The short-term money rates remained high on Friday, and the banks borrowed aggressively from the central bank to meet the mandatory cash reserves requirement.
Overnight money rates remain pegged at the top level of 8.9 percent, just below the discount rate of 9 percent. The banks borrowed Rs 17.709 billion from the State Bank of Pakistan''s discount window. A day earlier, banks had borrowed Rs 10.615 billion from the facility.
"The market has been tight in recent days, and an outflow of around Rs 19 billion today left the market even more short," a local bank dealer said.