KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed exporters to utilise their funds in foreign currency accounts without any prior approval.

The government has been making efforts to increase exports and facilitate exporters a liberal with liberal access to dollars for marketing and other related purposes.

“To facilitate the exporters and to promote ease of doing business, the utilisation of the retained funds has been further liberalised,” said the SBP circular.

“All exporters will be able to freely utilise the funds held in Exporters’ Special Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs) for making all types of payments abroad of current account nature, for their business purposes, without prior SBP approval,” said the SBP circular.

Furthermore, on request of exporters, authorised dealers (banks) may issue debit cards against the balances held in ESFCAs.

Banks have been advised to bring these instructions to the knowledge of all their constituents for meticulous compliance. Exporters usually spend their dollars on expanding their businesses abroad but the limitation is considered a hindrance which has now been removed.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024