Lack of investment pushes up idle money in banks: Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Tuesday it is not true that the idle money in the banking sector continues to grow for lack of investment demand in the country, reports UNB.

He said the amount of the idle money in the country's banking sector stood at Tk 5.73 billion (573 crore) as of March 15 last.

Of the surplus reserve in the banking sector, Tk 2.36 billion (236 crore) belongs to traditional banking sector while Tk 3.37 billion to Islamic banking sector, he said.

The finance minister came up with the data while responding to a scripted question from MA Latif (Ctg-11).

Muhith, however, said the amount of surplus money is very nominal, considering the number of banks and banks' total liability.