The central bank has relaxed foreign exchange regulations allowing the shipping lines to issue bills of lading to the name of importers after receiving advance payment instead the name of banks earlier, officials said.
Under the relaxations, authorised dealers (ADs) in foreign exchange banks will issue a certificate to the exporter in the prescribed form to be produced to the carrier company, enabling them to draw the shipping documents accordingly.
The central bank issued a circular in this connection on Wednesday and asked the all ADs banks to follow the latest regulations properly.
"We've relaxed the regulations to facilitate the country's foreign trade," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE while explaining the main objective of the relaxations.
The BB in its circular said: "It has now been decided that ADs may allow carrier companies to draw railway receipts, bills of lading, airway bills and other documents of title to cargo to the order of importer or other designated parties as per stipulations of export letter of credit/valid sales contract only if the shipment is made against full payment received in advance through normal banking channel."
The central bank had earlier allowed shipping lines, air lines and multimodal transport operators to open and maintain foreign currencies accounts with the banks to facilitate foreign trade.
