- Savings certificates worth Tk 21,656.05cr sold
- Previous principal amount & profit were paid at Tk 22,921.02cr
- Govt's net debt stood at Tk 1,264.97cr after paying principal amount & profit
People are breaking their savings certificates to cope with inflationary pressures. And savings certificates are being sold at a lower rate than the rate at which they are being broken. As a result, investment in savings certificates has not increased in 3 months but has become negative. In these three months, the government has not received any loan from the savings certificate. At that time, the government paid Tk 1,265 crore by taking loans from the state treasury and bank system.
According to the latest updated report of the National Savings Department, savings certificates worth Tk 6,745.79 crore were sold in September this year. Of this, the previous principal and profit have been paid at Tk 6,893.64 crore. The government's net debt (negative) stood at Tk 147.85 crore in September after paying the original amount and profit of the savings certificates.
When asked about this, Dr Zahid Hossain, former chief economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, said that the government pays interest on the money invested in savings certificate schemes after a certain time. The money invested is also refunded after the expiry of the term. Net debt is calculated by excluding the principal and profit of the previously sold schemes from the investment received from the savings schemes sold every month. But under the pressure of inflation, people are breaking their savings certificates. And the trend of people buying savings certificates has decreased due to the reduction in interest rates and conditions.
According to the report, in the first three months (July-September) of the current fiscal year (2023-24), savings certificates have been sold at Tk 21,656.05 crore. Of this, the previous principal amount and profit have been paid at Tk 22,921.02 crore. The government's net debt (negative) stood at Tk 1,264.97 crore in the three months after the payment of the principal amount and profit. That is, in the first three months of the financial year, the amount of repayment in savings certificates has been more than the government's loan.
JH
