ISLAMABAD-Muhammad Zohaib Khan, chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), has stressed that the new measures announced by the State of Bank of Pakistan (SBP) must be implemented in letter and spirit swiftly to realize their potential benefits for the economy in general and the IT industry in particular.
Zohaib Khan said that it is pertinent to note that SBP has increased the permissible retention limit of IT exporters from 35 percent to 50 percent. This means that IT exporters can now retain more of their foreign earnings in their accounts. Additionally, SBP has also advised commercial banks to facilitate the issuance of debit cards to IT exporters; enabling them to make online payments from the balance available in their Exporters Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs). P@SHA chief acknowledged the indispensable and collective support of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom (MoITT) in getting these longstanding demands of the IT industry see light of the day at the earliest. Nonetheless, the industry is worried about how and when SBP makes commercial banks comply with these new facilitative and transformative measures, Khan added.
Zohaib Khan explained that, until and unless, commercial banks start allowing IT companies to retain their 50 percent earning into their ESFCAs; issue them corporate debit cards with all internationally-aligned features and permit outward repatriation of foreign exchange through digital or online banking channels, the issues vis-à-vis foreign exchange retention and utilization will continue to hamper the operations & growth of IT companies.
Khan stated that the authorities need to give confidence and build trust with the IT companies pertaining to the implementation of the new measures – and, more importantly, establish them as a robustly perpetual policy to ensure continuity & certainty in policies. SBP is the regulator of commercial banking and has all the powers & tools to enforce these policy decisions within a couple of weeks, he added. He also emphasized that IT industry is all poised to take its exports to $5 billion per annum from the last year’s $2.62 billion to $5 billion in annual terms in a quick succession of 12 – 18 months.
