The government of Pakistan has recently made adjustments to the profitrates offered on national savings schemes, along with their Islamicfinancial products and accounts. These changes were officially implementedon October 30, and they were communicated through an official notificationfrom the Ministry of Finance.
Among the notable changes is the increase in the profit rate for savingsaccounts, which has been raised by 1 percent, resulting in a new annualrate of 20.5 percent. Similarly, the profit rate for special savingsaccounts has seen a 20-basis point increase, reaching a rate of 18 percent.
In contrast, the profit rate on deposits in Pensioners’ Benefit Accounts,Bahbood, and Shuhada’s Family Welfare Account has been reduced and is nowfixed at 16.32 percent per annum, down from the previous rate of 16.56percent.
Furthermore, the return on short-term one-year certificates has beenadjusted to 21.72 percent, marking a significant increase from the previousrate of 19.82 percent.
It’s important to note that there have been no announced changes for theone-year Sarwa Islamic Term Accounts (SITA), which will continue to beavailable to investors at a rate of 20.80 percent.
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However, the expected rate of return for a three-year SITA has beenincreased to 18.23 percent, effective from October 30, compared to theprevious rate of 18 percent set in June of this year. Similarly, theexpected return on five-year SITA has been revised to 15.72 percent fromthe previous 12.84 percent, marking a substantial increase of nearly 3percent.
In addition to these adjustments, the Sarwa Islamic Saving Account (SISA),which operates as a running account, will now offer a return of 20.50percent, up from the previous rate of 19.50 percent. These financialproducts are scripless, and the profits earned will be deposited intoeither the investors’ bank accounts or national savings accounts throughRaast accounts, depending on the specific arrangement.