One of the sickest feelings is when you are powerless at the time of withdrawing money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) due to shortage of cash.
Eid is still some 3-4 days away and the ATMs of some of the banks in the country are already out of cash. This has caused some serious distress among the people as they are immobilized to shop for their families during the weekend.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) instructed all the banks to beef up cash at ATMs during Eid but despite that some of the ATMs are still out of cash that people have to secure loans from their loved ones. SBP also stressed that no ATM machine should be found in an “out of order” or “out of cash” state as it may lead to strict action by the central bank against the responsible commercial bank(s).
One of the disappointed individual, Kamran Ali, stated that:
“I had to take my family for shopping but due to this irresponsible behavior of banks I had to stay back. This was my day off from work but it went in vain. Banks are clearly not following SBP instructions”
One of the students of Greenwich University, Haider Qamar, had to put the following status on Facebook after trying his luck of withdrawing money from various ATMs. His status read:
“Is there any ATM that is working in Karachi? Please do let me know the exact location and bank ATM ASAP”
It is fathomable that the banks will eventually run out of cash due to imminent holidays but people of Pakistan demand explanation of how the banks are already out of the cash even though the holidays are far off.
Most banks are usually closed on Saturday but the SBP had directed them to stay open on 2nd July in the light of upcoming Eid holidays. The banks will remain closed from 5th to 8th July, which meant that people had only Saturday (July 2) and Monday (July 4) to make withdrawals from banks for their Eid shopping.
Some other quotes from the disappointed and distraught people of Pakistan are:
“I visited around 5 ATM machines of different banks in my area. Still, I could not get cash” – Asim Shenwari.
“Banks should realize that people need money especially during these days. They claim to be very customer-friendly in their advertisement but this is what actually they do to us” – Khalid Gorjeg.
“This shows how seriously the monetary institutions take orders from the SBP” – Ajay Kumar.
Amidst all this, an SBP spokesperson stated that majority of the bank ATMs are still working despite heavy withdrawals. Furthermore, he stated that the shortage of cash is inevitable bearing in mind the Eid holidays. The spokesperson further added that the primary reason SBP instructed all the banks to beef up cash at ATMs during Eid was to entertain general public so that they could relish hassle-free financial services.
The SBP will scrutinize ATM locations of commercial banks till 10th July to verify their status. Moreover, the central bank had also advised commercial banks to inform the SBP in advance about extra cash that they might need during Eid holidays.
In the current scenario, it would be ideal to withdraw cash from the banks on 4th July (Monday) in order to avoid unforeseen circumstances during Eid holidays.
