Companies, banks start paperless communications with customers

The scarcity of paper owing to the forex crunch is becoming very real. Cancelling school exams, delays in printing school textbooks, authors struggling to publish their books, and banks and companies resorting to e-statements and email communications with customers and clients are the latest.

The DFCC Bank recently in a notice said that ‘due to the non-availability of paper they are compelled to discontinue issuing the monthly bank statements from this month while credit card statements will be stopped from May onwards. The bank requested its customers to register for the electronic statement facility”. Other banks said most of them will follow suit in the coming month.

The Book Publishers’ Association recently said their paper costs have risen by nearly 150 per cent owing to the foreign exchange shortage. They said publishing school exercise books have declined by some 70 per cent as banks are not opening letters of credit to import paper. An author confirmed this to the Business Times on Wednesday saying that she

The Book Publishers’ Association recently said their paper costs have reason by nearly 150 per cent owing to the foreign exchange shortage. They said publishing school exercise books have declined by some 70 per cent as banks are not opening letters of credit to import paper.

had to postpone her book launch for the past two months owing to the crisis. She said that the number of copies of her book had to be reduced owing to the ongoing paper shortage.

The country’s monthly requirement for paper is 120,000 tonnes. Last month the Department of Education cancelled exams for school children due to the same crisis.

The newspaper industry is also feeling the crunch with certain newspapers suspending their publications last month. Adding to the crisis is the sharp rise in newsprint with the Central Bank floating the exchange rate.