The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will make special arrangements for the sale of Students Welfare Prize Bonds, managing director of the central bank's banking Service Corporation Aftab Mustafa Khan said on Thursday during the prize bond's launching ceremony held here.
This is for the first time that a special investment instrument had been launched for Students by the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS). The directorate has set a target of attracting an investment of Rs 4 billion through the newly-launched bond, but they expect "a very encouraging response", estimating that bonds worth over Rs 10 billion would be sold over the next month.
The bond's launching ceremony was held at the Regional Directorate of CDNS. Addressing the ceremony, Managing Director SBP Banking Service Corporation Aftab Mustafa Khan said that the new prize bond would facilitate Students, besides fulfilling the government's financing requirements.
He said that over 90 percent of the prize bonds were being sold through SBP-BSC branches, therefore special arrangements would be made for the sale of Students Welfare Prize Bonds. Regional Director of CDNS Abdul Bari Shaikh said that National Savings had already surpassed its investment target in the first quarter of the current financial year, adding that the new bonds would be on sale between November 16 and December 14 this year.
Bari said that the main objective of the launching of these prize bonds was to encourage the habit of savings among Students. The ceremony, presided by Chairman of the Central Depository Company (CDC) Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, was also attended by veteran educationist and Chairman of the Sindh Board of Technical Education Saeed Ahmed Siddiqui. A number of Students from various institutions, prominent financial sector personalities and media also attended the ceremony.