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Sales of savings tools on the rise

Rejaul Karim Byron
The government's borrowing through savings instruments more than trebled year-on-year to Tk 4,328 crore in the first two months of the current fiscal year.
The jump was mainly due to growing confidence of investors in the government's savings instruments that offer higher interest rates compared to banks.
The net sales of the savings tools were worth Tk 1,316 crore in the July-August period of last fiscal year.
Profits from savings instruments have been more attractive for the last several years, said an official at the
Internal Resources Division of the finance ministry.
A certain amount of savings by pensioners has been made tax-free in the current budget, which also led to a rise in the sales of the savings instruments, he said.
Many banks are now discouraging deposits as they are sitting idle on a huge pile of excess liquidity amid a dull investment situation in the country.
The average deposit rate fell by about 0.82 percentage point in one year and stood at 7.79 percent in June, which is why small savers are now looking to the savings instruments.
"Higher returns are attracting savers to invest in savings certificates," said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director at Centre for Policy Dialogue.
Presently, the difference between interest rates for bank deposits and savings certificates is between 4 and 5 percentage points. Most of the banks offer 8-9 percent interest rates for fixed deposits, down from 12-13 percent for the savings tools.
Moazzem also said savers do not have any other option, as the country's stockmarket is not so developed and secured yet.
Bangladesh Bank is receiving more than a hundred applications everyday for savings certificates renewal on maturity.
"More and more savers want to reinvest
their money and we are getting a lot of applications for that," a BB official said. However, the rise in sales of the savings instruments will push up the government's expenditure on interest payment.
The government's borrowing from the banking system has been on the rise since the beginning of the current fiscal year due to a revenue shortfall.
The net borrowing from banks reached Tk 2,776 crore during the period from July 1 to September 23 of the current fiscal year. But in the same period last year, the government did not borrow from banks, rather itrepaidTk 1,034 crore.
In July, the National Board of Revenue collected Tk 7,988 crore, down from its monthly target of Tk 9,053 crore, due to poor receipts from value-added tax and supplementary duty.