The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) strongly quashes the rumours in the mainstream media that the central bank imposed any restrictions on the opening of the Letters of credits (LCs) or any temporary ban on import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), crude oil or any other petroleum products.
The State Bank also issued a press release pertaining to this sensitive issue. In the statement SBP clarified that there is no suspension of LCs on any petroleum products.
“SBP would like to clarify some misinformation being spread in the media that the import of oil and petroleum products has been restricted by it. It is clarified that SBP has not placed any restriction (verbal or otherwise) on opening of Letters of Credit (LCs) or contracts for import of crude oil, LNG and petroleum products. Such misinformation is being spread with ulterior motives to create uncertainty in the market.” the statement said.
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Furthermore, SBP also clarified that, “SBP ensures timely processing of FX payments through banks related to import of oil and gas products (including LNG) and in accordance with the contractual maturity of the trade documents. All the LCs/contracts for oil import are being retired on their due date through interbank foreign exchange market without any delay. The same is also evident from trade data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in terms of which country’s oil import stood at US$1.48 billion and US$1.47 billion for the month of Sep-22 and Oct-22 respectively.”
