KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan on Friday enhanced financing limit of a single hospital/ medical centre under its Refinance Facility for Combating COVID -19 (RFCC) from Rs. 200 million to Rs. 500 million.
RFCC is an emergency funding facility to support hospitals/medical centres to develop their capacities for treatment of infected patients of COVID-19, said a news release.
The financing under this facility is being made available by State Bank at 0% to banks that can charge a maximum rate of 3% per annum to hospitals/medical centers. State Bank has been continuously improving features of this facility to ensure timely financial support to hospitals/medical centers engaged in combating COVID-19.
So far, financing of Rs. 2.2 billion for 11 hospitals/medical centres has been approved whereas financing requests of Rs 3.6 billion for 23 hospitals/medical centres are being processed by the banks. With enhancement of financing limit, it is expected that large scale facilities will be created for treating COVID-19 patients by using subsidized funding being extended under this facility.