The Auditor General of Pakistan has directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to recover Rs. 20.61 billion from eight Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) including banks.
The AGP in the audit report 2020-21 directed the central bank not only to recover Rs. 20.61 billion from eight Development Finance Institutions including banks but also to strengthen internal control.
The audit officials during the audit of SBP for the years 2018-19, 2019-20 observed that the central bank failed to recover the Rs. 20.61 billion amount on June 30, 2020, under different heads of accounts.
The SBP has to recover Rs. 1.054 billion from Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan, Rs. 1.06 billion Bankers’ Equity Limited, Rs. 59 million SPCB, Rs. 13.3 billion IDBP, Rs. 0.982 million NCB, Rs. 323 million Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, Rs. 4.7 billion recoverable outstanding markups from ZTBL, and Rs. 10 million recovery under National Financial Literacy Program.
The audit is of the view that non-recovery of outstanding amounts reflected inefficiency and weak internal controls.
The audit officials reported this matter to the central bank and this irregularity was also discussed in departmental meetings in which the SBP stated that efforts were being made to recover the amount from above mentioned first six DFIs while it also claimed that they also recovered the amount from ZTBL on account of outstanding markup.
The audit officials had requested the SBP to get the recovered amount along with relevant documents verified but no record was provided to the audit by the management till the finalization of the report.
