Bank deposits up by 16.1%

KARACHI—The deposits of the banks as in December 2006 compared to last year’s same month shot up by 16.1 percent. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released data showed that the deposits of the banks in December 2006 whirled up to Rs2920 billion swelled by 16.1 percent as compared to Rs2520 billion in December last year. Meanwhile, the disbursement of loans up to December 2006 also surged up to Rs2180 billion, depicting a jump by 19.2 percent, while the figures for the month of December 2006 as compared to the previous month of November’s showed a decline by 0.1 percent. The percentage of the disbursement of loans to deposits of all the scheduled banks up to December 2006 has mounted to 74.5 percent as against 72.7 percent for the same period last year.—Online