Export finance markup rates raised to 13pc
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised the export refinancing markup rates by 200 basis points, bringing them close to the current policy interest rate of 16 per cent. In a circular issued on Thursday, the central bank said it had decided to reduce the gap between its policy rate and the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Long-Term Financing Facility (LTFF) rates from the existing 5pc to 3pc. Accordingly, markup rates for financing under EFS (Part-I and Part-II) and LTFF have been increased from the existing 11pc to 13pc a year each with effect from Dec 30 (today), the bank said. Now when the SBP changes its policy rate in future, the markup rates for the two facilities “will be revised automatically so that the gap between the policy rate and EFS and LTFF rates is maintained at 3pc”, the bank said. On May 23, the SBP raised the markup rates for financing under EFS from 5.5pc to 7.5pc and under LTFF from 5pc to 7pc.