The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced a new mechanism to enable companies in Pakistan to make instant payments for acquiring digital services from globally recognised digital service provider companies.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the central bank said, “Local companies can now access various services including advertising, hosting, database access, accounting management, skill development, customer support, etc from these global companies instantaneously without any regulatory approval process.”
The move is aimed at increasing the outreach of local companies to a wider customer base locally and abroad, which would help them increase their footprint, productivity and achieve greater efficiency. “After an extensive consultative process with all the relevant stakeholders, a much simplified process on payment versus receipt basis has been introduced with annual limits, in addition to the existing framework mentioned above,” the statement added.
Banks would now have general permission to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of $200,000 per year for each local company on account of digital services, primarily in favour of 62 digital service provider companies (including their affiliates or associated entities), listed in the circular.
Banks may offer digital channels to their clients for making these payments.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2020.
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