Circulars

Estimation of Freight Margin - Quarterly

March 15, 2022
9072

All Scheduled Banks

The Presidents / CEO's

Dear Sir/Madam

Subject: Estimation of Freight Margin - Quarterly

  1. Please refer to EPD. FE Circular No. 01 dated April 10, 2008 and DS.ITS/GEN/2020009454/20 dated August 24, 2020 through which banks are required to submit the International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) data to State Bank of Pakistan on monthly basis.
  2. Import payments reported by authorized dealers in ITRS are on mixed basis (fob, cfr, cif, cpt). To segregate freight component from reported import payments, Statistics and Data Warehouse Department (SDWD) of SBP estimates freight payments by applying a uniform factor to import payments. This factor (freight margin) is periodically assessed through studying a representative sample of imports in detail.
  3. In the past, such study purpose surveys were conducted after longer intervals of time. Now, considering volatility in international transportation costs, SBP has decided to do such surveys on quarterly basis to have an accurate estimate of the freight margin for compilation of country’s Balance of Payments.
  4. For this purpose, every quarter, SDWD of SBP will be providing each bank a sample selected from respective bank’s import transactions. Banks are advised to submit additional information (as per annexure) on freight pertaining to import transactions selected in the sample within 30 days of the receipt of sample through email at [email protected]
  5. For Oct - Dec 2021 quarter, sample import transactions have already be sent to each bank’s representative and aforementioned information is due on April 15, 2022.
  6. In case of any query, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Abdul Basit through email ([email protected]) or call (021-32454939).

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Muhammad Nadim Hanif
Additional Director