SBP refuses rumors of five thousand note discontinuation

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has refuted reports circulating on social media that it is discontinuing the Rs5000 currency note.

 “The SBP strongly denies that any proposal to discontinue Rs. 5000 currency note has been forwarded by the SBP,” the central bank’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Such news items are baseless,” the spokesperson added.

The clarification from the central bank comes days after there were reports circulating that the State Bank would discontinue Rs. 5000 notes, since the central bank has banned the sale of 40,000 prize bonds earlier.

According to the SBP, the expiry date for encashment of these bonds is March 31, 2020 after that the bonds will become useless since they would no longer be included in draws.