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Call money rate at 6-month high

Saiiadur Rahman
T|te inter-bank call money rate reached a six-month high of 5 percent yesterday, riding on an Eid spending spree and the central bank's $150 million purchase from the market over die last two days, bankers and analysts said.
However, the rate for non-bank financial institutions rose up to 6 percent.
The interest rate was hovering between Tk 0.10 and Tk 0.25 -- a trend that started in April because of a steep decline in demand tor money, said market players.
The call money rate is the rate of interest that is charged by lenders when extending loans to banks and other financial institutions.
'The demand and circulation of money increased this week. Banks will witness further cash withdrawals next week,” said Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director ofPubali Bank, one of the largest players in the money market.
But Chowdhury ruled out the possibility of any sudden rise in the rate ahead of Eid this year, as seen in the previous years because of a huge volume ofcash in thei r reserves.
“ 1 don’t think the interest rate in the call money market will rise above 7 percent this year. Almost every bank hasa surplus cash," said SA Faruki, managing direct or of Standard Bank
In Bangladesh, the inter-bank call money market is accustomed to experiencing a sharp rise in the interest rate due to hefty cash withdrawal before Eid. In previous years, demand for funds was so high that the rate even jumped 50 percent.
This year the situation is different. In June 2009. banks had over Tk 34,000 crore excess liquidity without rinding ways to invest this idle money.
"No bank is in a cash crisis. We have aTk 250 crore surplus cash at the moment,” said the Standard Bank managing director.
Standard Bank is a third generation, relatively smaller private bank. The three state-owned commercial banks -- Agrani, Janata and Sonali - are the biggest players in the money market with a huge cash flow. Among the private banks, Uttara, IFTC, Prime and National, are the major players.
Ashim Kumar Saha, vice president (treasury division) of NCC Bank, identified three reasons behind the call money rate hike in recent days -- Bangladesh Bank's purchase ofTk 900 crore through treasury bills last Monday after a pause of over a month, withdrawal of money for Eid spending and a panic for cash.
"SomeTk 2,000 crore to Tk 3,000 crore is generally withdrawn from banks during the Eid festival," said Saha. The money will be returned to the banking sector in two weeks after Eid, he added.
sajjad@thedaiiystar.net