960425

Account holders

resort to heavy

withdrawals from

banks

TANVIR ZAHID

LAHORE: Account holders including government, semi-government and private sectors and individuals resorted to somewhat quite heavy withdrawals from the banks on Thursday on the eve of long weekend till next Wednesday.

Banks will now reopen on May 2 after availing of weekly off days on April 26 and 27, Eidul Azha holidays on April 28 to 30 and May Day on May 1.

Although, exact figures of withdrawals could not be gathered from large number of nationalized and private commercial banks but these were termed as "unusual and quite heavy" by the bankers with very little deposits forthcoming to strike a balance between the two.

With heavy withdrawals and little receipts, the banks had to rely on reinforcement from the State Bank of Pakistan and account holders in most cases were asked to wait and collect money after couple of hours in the afternoon as cash arrival from the State Bank was awaited after closing hours.

A bank official said that there were virtually no deposits in cash till people came in to pay utility bills.