Foreign nationals can now withdraw from their foreign-currency bank accounts every weekday, an official from the Foreign Exchange Management Department (FEMD) under the Myanmar Central Bank said.
The new policy went into effect on March 6. Prior to March 6, foreign
nationals could only withdraw from their foreign-currency accounts two
days a week.
The policy also extended withdrawals to private banks.
“Withdrawals
of foreign currency were only allowed in state-owned banks, but we are
now allowing withdrawals at private banks,” said U Han Min Soe, the
FEMD’s director on March 14.
Foreign-currency accounts can be
opened in three state-owned banks – Myanma Economic Bank, Myanma
Investment and Commercial Bank and Myanma Foreign Trade Bank – and 14
private banks.
The Myanmar Central Bank allowed the 14 private
banks to offer foreign-currency accounts initially in May 2012, and
authorised dealer licenses the following July. The Bank removed
restrictions for remittance in November 2013 and now allows remittances
Monday through Friday.
“We are trying to adhere to international
bank [best] practices. We have opened up transactions at private banks
as much as we have at state-owned banks, and it’s totally different than
in the past,” U Han Min Soe said.
However, foreign nationals are still not allowed to open savings accounts at state-owned or private banks.
The
withdrawal limit is still set at US$10,000. Now, foreign nationals can
withdraw up to $50,000 a week (in five installments) whereas they could
previously only withdraw up to US$20,000 (in two installments).
“This is suitable for customers doing business in Myanmar,” said U Pe Myint, Co-operative Bank’s managing director.
He
said that domestic banks are mostly remitting US dollars, Euros and
Singapore dollars. Some banks have requested Chinese yuan, Japanese yen
and Thai baht from the Myanmar Central Bank to remit in their banks, he
added.
source: The Myanmar Times
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