Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) noted that by August 31, investors of Rs 40,000 award bonds had withdrawn Rs 152 billion from CDNS’s total investment of Rs 259 billion after the federal government had decided to discontinue the specific bond.
National Savings expect the total sum to be taken by investors to be around Rs 194 billion by the end of September, out of which Rs.40 billion was drawn in July and Rs 112 billion in August, CDNS senior official reported.
A few months ago, when the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a circular, the govt froze the Rs 40,000 prize bond and directed all commercial banks to stop selling Rs 40,000 prize bonds as of June 24.
According to the notification, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) directed that national prize bonds worth Rs 40,000 denominations should not be purchased after June 24 and that after March 31, 2020, they should not be encashed or redeemed.
Answering a query, he said CDNS decided not to alter the prices of various certificates for September 2019 in order to encourage the savings culture in the country.
On multiple savings certificates, the CDNS has already risen prices to persuade clients to invest with CDNS.
“In previous board meeting the CDNS notified the upward revision in the profit rates for various saving certificates with effect from July 1st (2019), encouraging people to invest in various schemes of the Directorate,” he said.
The official was of the opinion that the upward revision of these certificates would produce more revenue that the government could use to resolve budget deficit issues as budget support.
He said the new Defense Savings Certificate rate was increased from 12.47 percent to 13.01 percent, while the Special Saving Certificate rate was increased from 11.57 to 12.90, the Regular Income Certificate was increased from 12 percent to 12.96 percent.
Similarly, Savings Account rates rose from 8.5 percent to 10.25 percent, while Bahbood Savings Certificates and Pensioners ‘ Benefit Account rates rose from 14.28 percent to 14.76 percent.
The official said the state had also enhanced the certificates for short-term (3 months), medium-term (6 months) and long-term (12 months) to attract more people to save and invest with CDNS.
He said the new rates for short-term certificates were increased from 9.8% to 12.08%, from 9.88% to 12.18% in the medium term, while the long-term certificate rate was increased from 9.98% to 12.28%.
He said the CDNS set annual net objectives of Rs 350 billion for the year 2019-20 compared to Rs 324 billion for the prior year’s 2018-19 to improve savings and promote the country’s saving culture, the official said.
The Directorate also revised and raised the Rs 1570 billion gross target for the 2019-20 fiscal year, he said.
He reported that by June 30, CDNS had raised Rs 410 billion, surpassing the Rs 324 billion target set for the year, while CDNS received Rs 155 billion in the previous year of 2017-18.
By June 30, the total savings held by the CDNS stood at Rs 1,150 billion, while by the same date a year ago, he said, the directorate had Rs 774 billion savings.