KARACHI: All banks across the country will remain closed for public transactions on the first of Ramadan on the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan.

According to a statement issued by Bank Daulat Pakistan, all banks will be on holiday on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, the first day of Ramadan 1442 AH.

The SBP has directed all banks to deduct Zakat from savings accounts on the first of Ramadan as per the syllabus.

It may be recalled that the employees of financial institutions, banks and microfinance banks perform their official duties as usual on the first of Ramadan, while transactions with the public are completely closed.

It should be noted that every year on the first day of Ramadan, all bank savings accounts deduct Zakat according to the syllabus of the account holders.
This year, the federal government has fixed the syllabus of Zakat for the Islamic year 1441-42 AH at Rs. 80,933.
In other words, Rs. 2,024 will be deducted from the account of the person who has such amount in his savings account in case of Zakat, while in case of more than that, a deduction of two and a half percent will be made on the total amount.

The Government’s Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Division sent a notification of the prescribed syllabus to the SBP on April 11, after which the SBP had issued important instructions to other banks regarding the syllabus and deduction of Zakat. Remember that Zakat will not be deducted from the payment account, company account or declaration account.