KARACHI-The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday reminded the citizens to encash or redeem withdrawn prize bonds by June 30, 2023 to avail the final opportunity that was unlikely to be extended further. The central bank, in a statement issued here, stated that withdrawn prize bonds of Rs.7500, 15,000, 25,000 and 40,000 could be redeemed from SBP Banking Services Corporation office and branches of commercial banks across the country. The SBP has also issued necessary instructions to commercial banks for accepting requests from general public for encashment or exchange of the prize bonds till the extended date. It is pertinent to mention that federal government, earlier, had fixed deadline of June 30, 2022, for redemption or encashment of the withdrawn prize bonds. However, considering that some of the prize bond holders could not get their bonds redeemed, a final opportunity has been given to the public to get the withdrawn prize bonds of Rs.7500, 15,000, 25,000 and Rs. 40,000 redeemed or en-cashed by June 30, 2023. The investors of aforesaid prize bonds had opportunity of encashment at face value, conversion to registered premium Prize Bonds of Rs. 25,000 and/or Rs. 40,000 or replacement with Special Savings Certificates (SSC) or Defense Savings Certificates (DSC), the statement elaborated.
The SBP has encouraged the general public holding the bonds to avail the final opportunity and get their holdings redeemed before the fixed date as those prize bonds shall not be en-cashable or exchangeable after the expiry of the extended deadline and thereby rendering them worthless.