KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to extend settlement of card-based cross-border transactions through interbank for other five months.

Previously, the SBP on May 31, 2023, allowed the banks to purchase the dollar from interbank for settlement of card-based cross-border transactions with International Payment Schemes (IPSs).

Initially, the facility was given for two months and was expired July 31, 2023; however, the SBP has decided to extend the validity of buying of dollar from interbank market for card payments for another five months.

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“It has been decided to extend the validity of this permission till December 31, 2023”, the SBP said in a circular on Monday.

It may be mentioned here that before this permission, authorised dealers were purchasing USD from any exchange company for settlement of card-based cross-border truncations with IPSs such as Visa, MasterCard, etc.

However, now the banks can purchase dollar from interbank market for such payments.

According to SBP, the step was taken after the representations received from stakeholders. Experts said that SBP’s this move will help to reduce the demand of dollar in the open currency market.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023