Banks will remain open on 30 and 31st December

Banks will remain open on 30 and 31st December 2021, to facilitate the special clearing for government transactions by NIFT.

In order to facilitate collection of government receipts, duties and taxes, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decided on Tuesday to keep the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation (SBP-BSC) and authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) open till 8pm on Dec 30 and 9pm on Dec 31.

Accordingly, the central bank said in a statement that NIFT has been advised to arrange a special clearing till 8pm on Dec 31, Friday for the same day clearing of payment instruments.

The SBP advised all the banks to keep their relevant branches open on Dec 31, 2021 (Friday) till such time to facilitate the special clearing for government transactions by NIFT.