State Bank of Pakistan has imported advanced machines capable of examining and sorting fake and different amount of currency notes and has directed all the banks to install such machines in every branch by 2017.
SBP Chief Spokesperson Abid Qamar said the machines were imported to recognise fake currency notes and all the banks had been directed to buy the same modern technological machines for their use.
This should be noted that the Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance Saleem Mandviwalla had directed SBP to install latest technology machines to examine currency notes by Jan 2017 in all the banks’ branches.
“Risks of scam do exist, despite having big mechanism of filtering any chance of fraud by the banks,” he said adding that neither he knew any bank’s involvement in circulating fake money nor he had received any such complaint through anybody.
“I can’t say what fake currency producers could do. How do they replicate the original money? I have no idea of their potential. But the thing we can do is to secure and make aware public as much as possible.”
Qamar said SBP had imported six advanced handy machines, and 10 more were in the pipeline, basically to detect fake money with many other features as well like sorting, examining and counting.
The spokesperson refrained from telling the price of the machine and its company considering it non-issue. He said the important thing was resolution of problem not expenditure on it. He said the decision was taken after consultation and deliberation of officials’ meeting then required specifications were submitted to the reliable company.
“We know they produce sophisticated machines and if there is something it would be realized over passage of time,” he said.