The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has refuted reports circulating on social media that it is discontinuing the Rs5000 currency note. “The SBP strongly denies that any proposal to discontinue Rs5000 currency note has been forwarded by the SBP,” the central bank's spokesperson said in a statement. “Such news items are baseless,” the spokesperson added. The clarification from the central bank comes days after there were reports circulating that the State Bank would discontinue Rs5000 notes, since the central bank has banned the sale of 40,000 prize bonds earlier. According to the SBP, the expiry date for encashment of these bonds is March 31, 2020 after that the bonds will become useless since they would no longer be included in draws. The SBP has also directed banks to stop selling old and unregistered Rs40,000 Prize Bonds. According to State Bank, the bonds would be converted into Rs40,000 Premium Prize Bonds and they can also be converted into saving certificates. Earlier, the SBP decided to enhance the existing limits of exports-related soft loans up to Rs100 billion and secondly allowed manufacturing sector an advance payment of up to $10,000 for import of raw materials and spare parts.