SBP has launched a new system for making payments to internationally recognized digital service providers to assist enterprises, particularly those in the IT and financial sectors.
The State Bank of Pakistan said that the newly introduced mechanism would allow Pakistani companies to make instant payments to acquire services without any hassle from globally recognized digital service provider firms.
Banks have been permitted to release foreign exchange to $200,000 per year for every single local business. However, the authorized banks can release the foreign exchange up to $25,000 per year on account of digital services providers excluding the list.
As per the SBP, this initiative would allow the local companies to different digital services including:
- Advertising;
- Hosting;
- Database;
- Accounting;
- Customer support.
The SBP stated, “This facilitation will increase their outreach to 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, in addition to the existing system, the SBP noted, a much-simplified mechanism on ‘payment vs receipt basis’ has been implemented with annual limits.
