KARACHI, August 4(ABC): The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said it has started a crackdown on exchange companies (ECs) in the light of findings from ongoing inspections and mystery shopping.
In a statement, the central bank stated that due to recent volatility in the exchange rate and the difference between the interbank rate and the rate offered by ECs and banks to their customers, it has increased its monitoring of ECs and banks’ foreign exchange operations.
In this respect, the SBP started inspections of a number of exchange companies and banks on Monday (Aug 1), it added.
There was clear evidence that banks were involved in minting money as they were charging much higher dollar rates than the rates shown by the State Bank. Moreover, some importers were getting dollars easily to open Letters of Credit, while many were facing difficulties arranging dollars even from outside the banking channels.
