National Saving Schemes: CDNS revises rates of return downwards

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has revised the rates of return on some of its National Savings Schemes. The rates of Special Savings Certificates (SSC) have been reduced by 160bps to 16.4% from 18% earlier.

Short Term Savings Certificates (STSC) will now yield 20.8% instead of the earlier 21.72%, a decrease of 92bps.

In addition, the return on Regular Income Certificates (RIC) has been reduced to 15.12% from 16.08%, a decrease of 96bps.

New NSS rates effective from 19 December 2023 pic.twitter.com/5q0SjPSTg6 — National Savings (@savingsgovpk) December 20, 2023

Meanwhile, the rates of Bahbood Savings Certificates (BSC), Shuhda Family Welfare Account and Pensioners Benefit Account (PBA) have been marginally reduced by 24bps to 16.08% from 16.32% earlier. The change in the rate of return will take effect from December 19 onward.

The revision in rates of savings schemes came after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) kept the key interest rate unchanged at 22% earlier this month.

The MPC said it “continues to expect that headline inflation will decline significantly in the second half of FY24 due to contained aggregate demand, easing supply constraints, moderation in international commodity prices and favorable base effect.”

The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation clocked in at 29.2% on a year-on-year basis in November 2023 as compared to the reading in October when it stood at 26.9%, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).