The Currency Notes Scandal is frustrating citizens in Pakistan as the currency notes, which are normally issued on festive seasons, are still inaccessible to the populace. According to the official statements of the commercial banks and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), it has been observed that the new notes are being channeled into the black market by an organized corrupt system in the SBP and its subsidiary SBP-BSC.
In the past, a reservation system based on CNIC gave citizens an opportunity to reserve fresh notes through SMS, but this service has been silently canceled. Today common Pakistanian people are informed that banks run out of stock, and brokers in such cities as Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad offer the bundles at huge prices. As an example, the value of 10,000 each or 10 is on sale at an expensive price of Rs. 16,000 to huge profits of brokers at the perils of the masses.
The presence of leaked memos and cash issuance slips points to the top officials of the SBP being allegedly collusive with regard to bundling together Rs. 10 and Rs. 20 notes, and delivering them directly to brokers. At least Rs. 2 million have been reported on each transaction in illegal kickbacks distributed between various ranks of staff and complaints to SBP authorities have gone unheard.
Read more: State Bank Finalizes New Currency Notes Design
To the people of Pakistan, this Currency Notes Scandal makes it more expensive to obtain new money, clouds public trust and exposes the systemic corruption in the central bank. Immediate remedial actions are required to put order back and deliver fresh notes to the right beneficiaries.
