In what is seen as a move that would facilitate e-commerce activities in Bangladesh by the e-CAB (e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh) member firms, the central bank of the country, the Bangladesh Bank (BB), has allowed members of the e-CAB to remit abroad US $ 10,000 a year each to meet their legitimate current expenses.
According to media reports, the central bank on 2 May (Sunday) issued an instruction in this regard, allowing authorised dealer banks to facilitate such transactions even as the BB allowed the banks to issue refillable international credit or prepaid cards favouring a nominated official of an eligible firm with US $ 2,000 or equivalent while the aggregate amount of refills and outward payment through traditional banking channels would not exceed US $ 10,000 or its equivalent in a calendar year, the circular maintained even as it restricted payments of technical knowledge or technical know-how fee, royalty, technical assistance fee and franchise fee under the limit.
Further, as per the circular, remittance for such expenses would be guided by the guidelines issued by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) even as apart from the e-CAB members, members of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services are also allowed to remit abroad US $ 30,000 in a calendar year each so as to meet their business purpose.