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SBP governor stresses need for integration of S Asian economies

KARACHI: Dr Shamshad Akhtar, governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stressed the need for sustained efforts to achieve a common platform for integration of South Asian economies to facilitate timely trade payments and remittances.

Addressing the opening session of the 4th quarterly meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Payments Council (SPC) Saturday, she appreciated the progress made by the SPC since its establishment last year.

The idea of having a regional payment initiative in the SAARC region was originated at the SAARCFINANCE conference held at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in July 2007.

The governors of the SAARCFINANCE Group approved the proposal for establishing a SAARC Payments Initiative (SPI) at its 16th meeting held in Washington in October 2007.

The SPI is a regional forum created by central banks/monetary authorities of SAARCFINANCE Group to have common understanding and cooperation to help each other to move forward in reforming their national payment and settlement systems (PSS) and also to establish an appropriate regional payment system that facilitates trade and investment flows in the region.

Dr Ranee Jayamaha, deputy governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who is also the chairperson of the council, chaired the meeting of SPC. staff report

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