According to NBE’s, eligible exporters of goods and services and recipients of inward remittances may open two types of foreign exchange retention accounts, namely:

Foreign Exchange Retention Account “A” for 30 % of a single transfer
Foreign Exchange Retention Account “B” for 70 % of a single transfer

Who is eligible to open Retention accounts?
Exporters of goods and services
Recipients of Inward remittances from abroad
Local merchants or entities licensed by the NBE to collect foreign currency cash notes for sale of goods and services Merchants and/or entities licensed by the NBE to collect credit card/debit card/prepaid card/payments for goods and service they sale

EWhat’s in it for you?
As per the current Retention and Utilization of Export Earnings and Inward Remittances Directives, they can use the retained percentage of the earnings

For import of goods and services payment without restriction
Free to sell all or part of the foreign currency held in the retention account at any time at freely negotiating rate not exceeding the selling exchange rate
In addition, subsequent directives may be introduced in the case of new substances that arise in the market.