The government is considering reducing the yield rates of savings certificates, chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan has said.
A committee has been formed to assess the possible impact of the cut, particularly on the interest of the small savers, he said.
He also said if the yield rate is reduced, it will be higher than that of banks as they will consider the small savers' benefits.
The NBR chief was speaking on Saturday at the inaugural ceremony of 'Savings Week-2019 in the city. The theme of the savings week is 'Sanchoy Shomriddhir Shopan.'
Officials of the Department of National Savings (DNS), were also present at the programme.
"We have formed a committee to assess the overall situation in the savings schemes. But we will give priority to the interest of small savers as social safety net is one of the important issues in the scheme," he said.
But he said it has not been decided yet whether the rate will be changed this year or not.
Mr Bhuiyan, however, said the number of taxpayers will increase as the TIN has been made mandatory for buying savings certificates.
Besides, the anomalies like violation of ceiling will be eliminated due to the introduction online database system of savings certificates, he added.
Due to attractive rates of yields, the sales of savings tools have increased significantly.
Nearly 95 per cent of the total sales target of savings instruments for the current financial year was achieved in the six months to December, he noted.
In the first half of the current fiscal, the department sold savings tools worth about Tk 250 billion.
If savings department intensifies efforts, it can sell another Tk 250 billion in the remaining months, the NBR boss said. Shamsunnahar Begum, director general of DNS, spoke about the newly-introduced online database system of savings certificates.
She said they have introduced the online database on a pilot basis. Gradually, she added, all savings outlets will be brought under the process.
The government's net borrowing target from savings instruments is Tk 261.97 billion for the fiscal year (2018-19). The DNS sells four types of savings certificates and the rates of yield are up to 11.76 per cent. It also sells different types of bonds to local and expatriate Bangladeshis.
Currently, around 20 million savers have investment in this segment.
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