Deposit in Bangladesh's banking system increases and so does the number of millionaire accountholders, according to latest official statistics that come as solace for banks in the wake of liquidity crunch.
Simultaneously, advances from the scheduled banks increased by Tk173.81 billion or 1.25 per cent to Tk14.05 trillion during the first quarter (January-March) of 2023.
According to the Bangladesh Bank statistics revealed Tuesday, the total deposit liabilities (excluding interbank items) of the scheduled banks increased by Tk 250.52 billion to reach Tk16.13 trillion during the quarter.
The volume of increased deposits was Tk116.39 billion and Tk 24.23 billion in the previous quarter (October-December 2022) and the corresponding quarter (January-March 2022) respectively.
As the deposit was enhanced, the banks' tendency of borrowing from the central bank declined by 6.88 per cent year on year. The banks altogether borrowed Tk 1.12 trillion from the BB at the end of the quarter under review. The entire borrowed amount from the BB in the previous quarter was Tk 1.20 trillion.
Seeking anonymity, a BB official said the increase in deposits during the quarter was due to an increase in urban deposits by Tk 192.55 billion or 1.54 per cent to Tk12.70 trillion.
"The share of urban deposits in total deposits at the end of the quarter Jan-Mar 2023 was 78.73 per cent as compared to 78.52 per cent at the end of the corresponding quarter (Jan-Mar 2022) of last year."
When contacted, managing director and chief executive officer of Pubali Bank Limited Mohammad Ali said the volume of deposit with his bank went up by Tk 30 billion to Tk 540 billion in the Q1 of this calendar year.
He said the withdrawal of deposit floor rate in January last might have helped attract the depositors. "In fact, the overall situation of the banking system keeps improving riding on people's trust," he adds.
The BB statistics also show that the country had seen an increase in the number of millionaires in January to March period of 2023 despite the inflation threat fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the data, the number of millionaire bank accountholders stood at 110192 in the first quarter of this year having an amount of Tk 6.91 trillion. The number of such accountholders was 109,946 in the corresponding period and these accounts had an amount of Tk 6.77 trillion.
Talking to the FE, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Limited Syed Mahbubur Rahman said the size of economy keeps growing over the years despite lots of obstacles."So the number of millionaire account holders is also increasing. This is normal."
The experienced banker says there is no clear indication about the nature of the accountholders. "So we don't know whether the accounts owned by how many individuals as a good portion of the accounts owned by companies which involved sales."
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