ISLAMABAD : The SBP has received as many as 2.4 million requests from across the country for the issuance of fresh currency notes. The SBP introduced a SMS service for acquiring fresh currency notices from June 1 to June 14 for Eidul Fitr.
People were asked to send from their cell phones SMSs containing their CNIC/smart card numbers along with the codes of bank branches to 8877 to get new currency notes. SMS short code service was set up for those who intend to get fresh currency notes. According to reports, this massive response to the SMS service was result of increasing awareness among the public through social media. The SMS service was launched on May 31 and arrangements were made at 1535 branches in 132 cities as compared to 1018 branches designated in 120 cities for last Eidul Fitr in 2017.
Apart from this SMS service, banks may continue to provide fresh notes to their customers from their branches and ATMs as sufficient quantity is being provided to them. The total booking limit of 2.7 million customers has also been increased this year by 50 per cent as compared to 1.8 million last year.
Meanwhile, SBP has planned to hold its 2018 workshop series for economic journalists from next month. A workshop will be held every month in different cities of the country. The workshop series has been developed to prepare journalists to understand fundamental economic ideas and be able to produce stories of a global standard, said a statement on Wednesday. The State Bank has a rich tradition of contributing towards the training of economic journalists through its workshops and new professional development programme for journalists is another step aimed at improving the standard of the reporting in Pakistan.