Business Recorder
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday unveiled a set of reforms to facilitate IT exporters and freelancers, scrapping repetitive documentation, introducing a one-day transaction processing timeline, and moving towards a fully digital reporting framework to support the country’s rapidly growing tech exports sector. These reforms are designed to simplify the export realization procedures, standardize documentation requirements, set transaction processing timelines, and strengthen complaint resolution mechanisms. As per new key facilitation measures, IT companies and freelancers will no longer be required to submit Form “R” for every individual export transaction. Instead, they will provide a one-time declaration, clearly specifying the nature of services being offered overseas, at the time of opening of new account and, in the case of existing customers, as and when required. READ ALSO: IT exports hold momentum Authorized Dealers (banks) will tag the relevant service and purpose code with the exporters’ account for reporting and processing export transactions, unless advised otherwise by the exporter. In addition, a maximum turnaround time of one working day has been introduced for processing inward export receipts and outward remittances from Exporters’ Special Foreign Currency Accounts (ESFCAs). As per new measure, documentation requirements for outward remittances from ESFCAs for acquiring services from abroad have been standardized to promote clarity and consistency across banks. SBP has instructed the banks to establish effective internal systems to ensure timely resolution of complaints raised by IT companies and freelancers, enhancing service quality and responsiveness. Besides the above measures, the reporting requirements for exporters and importers of services have also been simplified through revisions in Form “R”, the Inward Remittance Voucher (IRV), and Form “M”. The threshold level for obtaining Form “R” has been increased to above US$ 25,000 (or equivalent in other currencies), providing convenience to the beneficiaries. Additionally, banks have been advised to digitalize Form “R” and Form “M” with auto-population functionality for the customer’s basic data to further promote ease of doing business. SBP believes that these measures will significantly enhance operational efficiency and contribute meaningfully towards the growth of Pakistan’s IT exports. Under the Chapter 22 and other relevant provisions of Foreign Exchange Manual (FEM), banks are required to report the data related to foreign exchange transactions, including information submitted by their customers on the prescribed forms, to the Statistics and Data Services Department of SBP International Transaction Reporting System (ITRS). In order to align the prescribed forms used for capturing details of invisible payments and receipts with current regulatory reporting requirements and remove redundancies, SBP has also revised the formats of the three appendices. SBP has advised the banks to use revised formats with immediate effect for capturing the details of applicable inward and outward remittance transactions. Further, the banks are advised to strictly observe the bifurcation of responsibility with respect to provision of information in the Appendices V7 and V-121. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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