The State Bank of Pakistan has increased the permissible retention limit of IT exporters to 50% or $5,000/per month from the earlier limit of 35% of their export proceeds in the Exporters’ Specialised Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs), a statement said on Monday.

“Further, the usage of the balances available in the ESFCAs has been simplified by allowing the IT exporters to make their payments from these accounts without any approval from SBP or banks,” the central bank stated.

The banks have also been advised to facilitate the issuance of debit cards, enabling the IT exporters to make online payments from the balances available in their ESFCAs, it added.

A new Framework for freelancers has been introduced to further ease the opening of their bank accounts and allow higher retention of amounts in their FCY accounts.

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“The freelancers will now be able to open the bank accounts both digitally and physically at their choice with minimum documentation requirements,” the SBP said.

Further, the freelancers’ ESFCAs will be opened concurrently with the opening of their primary rupee account.

The freelancers can now also make all payments from ESFCA accounts without any approval from SBP or banks.