SBP seeks record of foreign currency buyers from FBR

KARACHI: The federal government has decided to collect a complete record of the buyers of the US dollar through exchange companies across the country, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

A letter has been sent to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which sought a complete record of the foreign currency buyers.

The letter also stated that the revenue board had already sought the assistance of the central bank to trace such buyers, whereas, FBR is authorised to collect the required data of foreign currency buyers from the exchange companies.

It is also stated that the decision was taken to review the activities of bank exchange company under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. The central bank said that the federal government has already commenced carrying out a country-wide crackdown against dollar hoarding.

It added that the crackdowns are being carried out with the assistance of all concerned institutions including Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

Earlier on April 6, the then information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had said the government has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to launch a full-fledged operation against dollar hoarding, and speculative currency trade.

In a tweet on his social media account, he said the operation was being launched in coordination with State Bank of Pakistan and Ministry of Finance.