The central bank asked authorized dealer (AD) banks to ensure repatriation of services-export proceeds within 120 days the way merchandise-export earnings are brought home.
To this end, the Bangladesh Bank in an order invokes a 1947 Partition-year law on foreign exchange.
Officials said the instructions are equally applicable to repatriation of export proceeds against services as defined in Section 2(bbb) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation (FER) Act 1947.
The clarification on the scope of the law was issued by the BB on Thursday-in the wake of expansion of the services sector in tune with the fast-growing technological activity.
"We've warned the service-sector operators of taking necessary actions upon their failure to repatriate the export proceeds within the stipulated timeframe (four months)," a BB senior official told the FE while explaining main objective of the update on the legal provisions.
The Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions 2018 outlines operational modalities on services delivered in non-physical form relating to information and communications technology (ICT) and other businesses.
The clarification also says that services exporters can maintain notional/merchant accounts abroad to repatriate their income through the banks concerned in Bangladesh.
Retention of export proceeds abroad in any form, without limiting to equity/portfolio investment, purchase of physical assets and/or virtual assets, maintaining accounts regardless of currencies, including cryptocurrencies, constitutes contravention of the FER Act 1947, the central bank reminded, on a note of caution.
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