State Bank’s advance payment hailed

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to allow advance payments up to $10,000/invoice on behalf of importers / exporters for import of raw materials and spare parts, a statement said.

LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that this measure would yield good economic results, and would improve ease of doing business. It would also inject energy to the manufacturing sector, as now they would be getting raw materials with quite an ease, he added.

“Big relief to the export-oriented industry would also bring considerable improvement in exports.” The LCCI office-bearer said in July 2018, the central bank withdrew the facility that was extended to the authorised dealers to make import advance payments against irrevocable letters of credit (LCs) up to 100 percent of the value of the goods and up to $10,000/invoice for import of all eligible items without a requirement of LC or a bank guarantee from the supplier abroad, which caused huge difficulties for the export-oriented industry, but after restoration of this facility, the situation would take a positive turn, Sheikh said.