No separate central bank approval required for payment of internet bandwidth import

Banks do not have to take separate approval from the Central Bank for payment of import of internet bandwidth and related services as before.

They can make these payments by verifying the documents themselves.

The Foreign Exchange Policy Department of the Central Bank issued a circular Wednesday in this regard.

A senior official of the Central Bank said, "No prior approval is required from the Central Bank in making payment for imports under normal rules. Similarly, to make payment for the import of Internet bandwidth and related services, the approval of the central bank is not required from now on. The banks themselves can take the payment decision by verifying the information prescribed by us. In this, both the speed of work and the accountability of the banks will increase."

As per earlier rules, banks had to take separate approval from the central bank for payment of these import liabilities.

However, the newly issued circular states that the banks have to follow certain guidelines to make this payment.

For this, the banks have to collect the application form with the following documents. These are – copies of licenses obtained from appropriate authorities for the particular service, copies of agreements with related parties, copies of regulatory approvals from BTRC and other appropriate authorities where applicable, copies of relevant invoices, all applicable tax or exemption certificates issued by the relevant tax authorities. Related documentary evidence, and an undertaking from the applicant organization that such amount will be remitted immediately to Bangladesh.