Exchange of Rs 500-note denomination: SBP urged to extend dateline

Chairman Senate Dr Farooq H Naik on Thursday asked State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to extend dateline for exchange of Rs 500-note denomination and present resolution of Central Bank Board in this regard to the House by November 3. He said that all Rs 500-note issued by Central Bank are legal tenders and commercial banks should continue to accept these notes in exchange as majority of people have been facing great problems after the dateline to accept the notes is over.
Majority of people particularly those who are living in villages, he added, have no idea that the Rs 500 old notes are no more acceptable, so the SBP should consider the problems faced by people and the notes being legal tender must be accepted at the counters of bank branches including the Central Bank.
Speaking on a point of order Senator Wasim Sajjad said apart from the discussion whether the step taken by SBP is legal, the reality is that it has disturbed and put to pain a vast majority of people who have not been able to exchange the old Rs 500 note by September 30.
He said that SBP has not ensured that every person having this note in the country, as well as outside, was aware of the withdrawal of Rs 500 note. Issuing a news release of a few lines for the media is not enough at all, he said, adding that there has not been a single advertisement in this regard. "The message does not reach everybody even in cities, not to speak of remote villages", he lamented.
He went on saying that a woman in Hyderabad was reported to have lost all her money she had saved in demonetised notes for her daughter's dowry. "She was just one of tens of thousands of other victims of this illogical step", he regretted. Senator Ishaq Dar said that SBP may withdraw from circulation any currency note but it cannot fix any final date for it. All that it can do is to ask banks not to reissue any note that it wants to withdraw, he said, adding that banks must continue to accept the withdrawn notes for exchange with new ones whenever presented to them.