The Pakistani government has issued prize bonds in various amounts, and they will all expire on June 30, 2022.
The finance ministry has not yet made a decision to extend the deadline for exchanging bearer prize bonds. The deadline for exchanging or converting bearer prize bonds has already been extended by the federal government to June 30, 2022.
On March 30, 2022, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued a circular extending the deadline for exchanging or converting bearer prize bonds with values of Rs40,000, Rs25,000, Rs15,000, and Rs7,500 till June 30, 2022.
The bearer prize bonds could no longer be exchanged after March 31, 2022, as previously stated.
Until June 30, 2022, the SBP instructed the banks to accept requests from the general public for the encashment, conversion, or redemption of the mentioned denominations.
The banks must comply with the directions outlined in the aforementioned CMD Circulars by submitting branch and region-specific consolidated data of the quoted denomination national prize bonds owned by them as of the last date, which was June 30, 2022, no later than July 4, 2022.
The unregistered prize bonds were gradually withdrawn by the finance ministry. The national prize bonds with a Rs. 40,000 value would no longer be in circulation, the federal government declared on June 24, 2019. Similar to this, the government stated on December 10, 2020, that it will stop issuing prize bonds with a denomination of Rs25,000. National prize bonds of various denominations will be issued by the finance ministry beginning in April 2021.
The date for swapping the bearer bonds has been continually delayed by the government since June 2019. The unregistered bonds could no longer be exchanged after December 31, 2021.
Exchanges of unregistered bonds for cash are not permitted since the government wants to document bearer bonds. Various procedures were released by the ministry of finance to convert bonds without exchanging for cash.
Through 16 field offices of the State Bank of Pakistan’s Banking Services Corporation (BSC) and branches of six commercial banks, including the National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, and Bank of Punjab, the bonds can be converted to premium prize bonds (registered) of denominations of Rs25,000 and Rs40,000 (subject to the adjustment of the differential amount).
Through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, accredited commercial banks, and the National Savings Center, the bonds may be exchanged for Special Saving Certificates/Defense Saving Certificates.
The only way to redeem the bonds is through the 16 field offices of SBP BSC, authorised commercial bank branches, and savings accounts at National Savings Centers. From there, the funds will be sent to the bondsholder’s bank account.
