The State Bank of Pakistan has decided to enhance fine, prescribed under Part-I of the Export Finance Scheme, on account of non-submission of Export Proceeds Realisation Certificates (EPRC), from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, in order to make the monitoring of the Scheme more effective. According to SMEFD Circular Letter No 2 issued on Saturday, 25 percent of this fine, ie Rs 5,000, would be non-refundable, even on late submission of EPRC.
It may be recalled that under Part-I of the Export Finance Scheme, a token fine of Rs 5000 was being imposed on banks on failure to submit EPRC within the prescribed time period. The time frame required for submission of EPRC is 210 days (270 for export of carpet) from the date of shipment, or within 30 days from the date of realisation of export proceeds. Subsequently, on submission of EPRC, the fine already recovered was to be refunded to respective banks.
The Circular said that it was observed during on-site verification of export refinance cases in banks that in a good number of cases banks/exporters were not following time frame prescribed for submission of EPRC to respective SBP BSC Offices. Therefore, in order to make the monitoring of the Scheme more effective the State Bank has decided to increase the fine.