By Muhammad Soban

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (INP-WealthPK): The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced automated verification of refinancing claims under the export finance scheme to promote digitalisation and automation of the economy, WealthPK reports.

The automated verification will significantly enhance the efficiency of refinancing operations and improve access of exporters to liquidity. It will enable banks to verify refinance claims online and provide performance calculations and loan entitlements within minutes.

Initially, this automated verification will be conducted in parallel with the existing manual verification in the offices of SBP Banking Service Corporation by foreign exchange operation departments (FEODs) and development finance divisions (DFDs).

By adopting the automated system, banks will be able to generate a provisional export performance report for their exporters for the concluded financial year, review it with the exporters, and submit it electronically to the system after finalisation.

After the finalised performance has been verified, the system will calculate loan entitlements, which will be granted by the SBP Banking Service Corporation on the request of banks. By reducing turnaround times and changes of hands, automated refinance claims verification is expected to conserve resources and enhance efficiency.

Swift processing of export refinance will provide exporters with easier access to liquidity, ultimately contributing to the country’s export earnings. SBP is committed to bringing ease of doing business in the country by digitising banking operations over the long term.

Refinance facilities are targeted loans from SBP to enhance exports and industrial growth with the ultimate objective of the country’s overall economic development.

Over the years, SBP has introduced special schemes under its refinance window to ensure an adequate supply of financing to the value-added industries at competitive rates to enhance their production capacity and meet working capital requirements.

The export finance scheme (EFS), which is meant to ensure short-term credit availability for exporters, and the long-term financing facility (LTFF) for export-led growth on a long-term basis are among such initiatives of SBP.

In addition to promoting exports of the country, SBP has also introduced some special medium to long-term refinance facilities at subsidised rates for other sectors such as schemes on renewable energy, the establishment of silos, warehouses and cold storage for storing agricultural produce and purchase of machinery for Small and Medium Enterprises. These schemes are regularly reviewed to effectively achieve the desired objectives, according to the information gathered by WealthPK.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPK