The central bank is bringing flexibilities in its regulations in releasing foreign exchange (forex) for private travel.
Authorised Dealer (ADs) banks are allowed to release foreign exchange to an adult Bangladesh national during a calendar year up to USD 12,000 or equivalent, inter alia, for travel abroad without limiting to regions or countries of travel, according to a notification issued by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Thursday.
Under the relaxations, the time limit for annual travel quota will be counted from January 01 to December 31. If the travel involves subsequent year, travel entitlement will be counted for the particular year to which the transaction date relates.
In that case, post facto endorsement will be required for the subsequent year unless multiple years’ endorsement facility has been used; particularly under international cards. Reporting to Bangladesh Bank for such cases will be based on transactions date.
According to the notification, In case of exceeding the quota limit endorsed through international cards, without availing the facility as noted at 2 above, while on travel abroad, for unavoidable but bonafide grounds acceptable to ADs, the excess amounts may be adjusted in the following ways: (i) By debit to RFCD accounts of relevant travellers; (ii) Excess amount not exceeding USD 500 or equivalent may be adjusted against travel quota of the following year without prior approval from Bangladesh Bank if option (i) is not possible to be executed.
It is also said ADs shall have adequate arrangements including monitoring mechanism to implement the above decisions meticulously.
Other instructions regarding release of foreign exchange for travel abroad including reporting routines to Bangladesh Bank will remain unchanged, according to the BB notice.
