Covid-19 Measures by SBP

Scheme in Brief

Loan Extension and Restructuring Package of State Bank of Pakistan (Debt Relief Scheme) was announced to facilitate the borrowers in restructuring and deferment of their loans. The Debt Relief Scheme aimed to preserve the solvency of the borrowers and enable them to combat the temporary economic disruptions.

The response to the debt relief scheme has been overwhelmingly positive and all categories of customers including corporate / commercial and retail borrowers benefited from it.

(Amount of principal deferred and loans restructured in PKR Billions)

As of April 16, 2021

Out of 1.883 million applications received, banks, DFIs and MFBs have approved 1.825 million applications (96.92 %) up to April 02, 2021. Since the launch of the scheme, the individual borrowers, especially the customers of microfinance banks, have been the major beneficiaries of the scheme. The restructured and deferred loans include 1.717 million approved applications of customers of microfinance banks involving an amount of Rs 121 billion, which approximately constitutes 50 percent of total net-loan portfolio of MFBs.

Whereas, Rs 717 billion out of total restructured and deferred amount of Rs 910 billion relates to corporate and commercial borrowers; as corporate loan portfolio of the banking industry constitutes 69.9 percent of total loan portfolio of banks, DFIs and MFBs.

During the last fortnight, the performance from the FIs has remained static as the deadline for restructuring scheme has elapsed, which was March 31, 2021.

Scheme in Brief

This time bound Refinance Facility for Combating COVID-19 (RFCC) aims at enhancing the capacity of health sector of the country to deal with health emergency especially in the backdrop of COVID-19. Financing under the facility is available through banks/DFIs for all hospitals/medical centers not only to combat COVID-19 but also to enhance their overall capacities. Manufacturers of masks/protective dresses/testing kits/hospital beds/ventilators and other items to combat COVID-19 can also get advantage of this special financing opportunity.

Scheme in Brief

The Scheme aims to prevent layoff by financing wages and salaries of employees (permanent, contractual, daily wagers as well as outsourced) for six months (April 2020-Sep 2020) for all kind of businesses except for Government entities, public sector enterprises, autonomous bodies and deposit taking financial institutions.