The Senate has passed a resolution demanding the government withdraw Rs5,000 currency notes from circulation.
The resolution was tabled by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Osman Saifullah Khan calling on the government to stop printing the high denomination note and pull it out of circulation.
The motion was strongly opposed by the treasury benches with Law minister Zahid Hamid saying around 3.431 trillion bank notes of Rs5,000 denominations were in circulation in the country and withdrawing such a large number of notes would led to monetary crisis.
The resolution called on the government to demonetise the high denomination bank notes “in order to reduce illicit money flow, encourage the use of bank accounts and reduce the size of undocumented economy”.
Most illicit transactions are carried out using the Rs5,000 note, said Senator Saifullah, although he advised the government not to apply the method adopted by India.
The resolution was passed by the House with majority vote
