KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday opened a relief fund account for Türkiye earthquake victims, a statement said.
The central bank said that the government had notified the establishment of a relief fund, namely, Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Türkiye Earthquake Victims, to extend maximum support to the Turkish government and the people to help them cope with the destruction caused by the earthquake.
The fund would accept donations and contributions both from domestic and international sources for the aforesaid purpose. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will administer it, while the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue will maintain accounts of the fund.
In this regard, the SBP opened “Prime Minister’s Türkiye Earthquake Relief Fund Account” for collection of donations and contributions. All the commercial and microfinance banks would open the account of the fund and would receive donations and contributions in cash, through cheques, pay-order and demand drafts, at all their branches across the country.
The donors have been provided multiple options for making donation and contribution as described below:
Domestic Donors
Cash deposits at banks’ counters
The donors and contributors may make their donations and contributions to the fund in cash at any branch of any bank operating in Pakistan, which would transfer the consolidated amount of such donations to the fund account at the SBP through the “Real-Time Gross Settlement” (RTGS) system on a daily basis.
Similarly, the donations and contributions may also be made at any of the field offices of the SBP Banking Services Corporation.
Deposit of crossed cheques in the name of the fund in bank’s drop boxes
The donors and contributors may make their donations and contributions to the fund by dropping crossed cheques in the name of the fund in their respective bank’s drop box. All the banks would make available drop box facility at their selected branches for the donors, where they may drop their crossed cheques in favour of the fund.
The banks would accordingly debit the customer’s account and transfer the amount of such proceeds daily on consolidated basis through RTGS to the SBP.
Alternative delivery channels
The donor may also use alternative delivery channels, for e.g., internet banking, mobile banking, automated teller machines (ATMs) and mobile wallets, etc, to donate and contribute to the fund account through the Interbank Fund Transfer Facility (IBFT) and Raast.
The commercial and microfinance banks would prominently display the IBAN of the fund at their websites.
Overseas donors
Wire Transfer
The overseas donors, including expatriates may donate to the fund through wire transfer in the fund account maintained with their respective bank. They would simply advise their respective banks to transmit the donation amount in the fund account by debiting their accounts. The banks would transmit the consolidated amount of donations received in the fund account to the SBP on a daily basis through the RTGS system.
Transfer through money service bureaus, money transfer operators and exchange houses
The overseas donors may also donate and contribute through the Money Service Bureaus (MSBs), Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) (e.g., MoneyGram, Western Union) and Exchange Houses (EHs) in line with the arrangements in place for receiving home remittances.
The banks receiving such remittances in the fund Account would transfer the consolidated amount through the RTGS system to the SBP on a daily basis.
The banks would maintain the details of the individual donors, i.e., name of the donor, the amount of his/her contribution, mode of payment, etc, with them and would be made available to the SBP as and when needed.
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