Cabinet okays winding down of SME Bank

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Friday approved the winding down of the SME Bank on the recommendation of the State Bank of Pakistan while instructing to ensure the protection of consumers’ deposits.

Chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed that the protection of the customers’ deposits should be ensured during the winding down process. It was decided that an amount of Rs5.557 billion would be earmarked for making payments to all the bank customers in the first phase.

The cabinet also endorsed the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases made in its meeting held on March 13, including the approval of the Lawyers Protection Bill 2023 which was drafted on the lawyer community’s request for their protection. The bill will now be tabled before the parliament.

On the finance ministry’s recommendation, the federal cabinet granted ex-post facto approval to 15 bilateral and two multilateral MoUs of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan with different countries and international institutions.

The cabinet approved the constitution of an inquiry committee under an additional deputy commissioner for the extradition of a citizen Muhammad Waseem, son of Muhammad Aslam, to Saudi Arabia under the Extradition Act 1972. Aslam is wanted by the Saudi government in a murder case.

Besides, the cabinet approved the reconstitution of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbadhak Committee, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony. The 13-member committee would consist of Sikh community representatives from all the provinces.

The committee would be mandated to take care of the Gurdwaras, facilitate Sikh pilgrims, and run other administrative matters.

The cabinet also endorsed the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee made in the meetings on March 14 and 15, including the fixing of Rs8,500 per 40kg as the support price of cotton.