SBP says probe against banks to be completed by end of November.

ISLAMABAD -- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said that the investigation against banks involved in currency manipulation would be completed by the end current month. The Committee on Finance and Revenue, which met under the chair of Qaiser Ahmed Shaikh, has discussed the exchange rate manipulation issue. The committee was briefed about actions taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) against earned treasuries of eight banks for exorbitant profits. The committee showed its reservations regarding slow pace of inquiry. The SBP Deputy Governor Inayat Hussain assured the committee that the process is in closing stages, various banks have been charged, and it will be concluded by the end of current month. Furthermore, the SBP has tightened monitoring and no further complaints regarding manipulation are coming to them. The committee reiterated that it expects strict punishment and fines will be meted out to accused banks. The SBP deputy governor informed the committee that SBP is investigating the matter. He further informed that the SBP had started investigation against eight banks regarding the role of further private banks in exchange rate manipulation. However, now more banks are also being investigated in this matter. The commercial banks had started charging extra dollar from the customers few months earlier after the banks had faced shortage of dollars. The deputy governor has also briefed the committee on the currency value. He informed the local currency is under pressure due to shortage of dollars in the market. Outflow of the dollar is higher than the inflow, which resulted in higher dollar value. He was optimistic that situation would improve in next couple of months. He further informed that current account deficit had swelled to $18 billion in last fiscal year. However, the government had controlled the deficit at $2.1...