ISLAMABAD: The ministry of finance on Thursday extended the last date to exchange bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination up to December 30, 2020.
The last date to exchange the bearer prize bonds was expired on June 30, 2020.
The government on June 24, 2019 announced to discontinue the circulation of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) allowed the investors to exchange the unregistered prize bonds through three different modes. The SBP has barred the exchange of bearer prize bonds against cash.
However, the bonds can be redeemed against registered or premium prize bonds or can be converted into national saving schemes or face value (direct transfer to the bank account of bond holder).
The bearer instruments have been known as parking lot for undocumented economy. Therefore, the government launched registered prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination in March 2017 which could be purchased against certain requirements including Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) and valid bank account.
According to Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) data made available on Friday people surrendered around Rs256 billion bearer prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination since the ban imposed June 2019 for documentation of the economy.
The data showed the total stock of investment made in bearer bonds of Rs40,000 denomination was Rs258 billion by May 2019. The remaining stock of bearer bonds is Rs2 billion by March 2020.
