The net investment in the national savings certificates and bonds increased by 362.88 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year 2013-14 compared with that in the same period of the FY13 because of a dull investment situation amid political unrest and a lower rate on the banks’ savings products. According to the Directorate of National Savings’ data, the net investment in the savings instruments was Tk 2,097.47 crore in the first three months of the FY14 while it was Tk 453.13 crore in the same period of the FY13.
A DNS official told New Age on Thursday that clients were now more interested in investing in savings instruments as the country’s investment sector including industrial sector was now facing a stagnant situation due to the recent spates of political violence.
‘Besides, the banking sector is now enjoying enough liquidity as their loan disbursement to the industrial sector declined significantly in the last few months. For these reasons, some banks have cut their interest rates on their savings products,’ he said.
The majority of the savings schemes of the DNS are now offering the clients’ interest rates higher than those on the banks’ deposit products, he said.
The rate of interest in 13.19 per cent on five-year Bangladesh savings instruments, 12.59 per cent on three-monthly profit-bearing savings certificates, 13.19 per cent on pensioners’ savings instruments and 13.45 per cent on family savings certificates.
Under the circumstances, the net investment in the savings instruments jumped in the first three months of the FY14.
The DNS data showed that savings instruments worth Tk 5,893.70 crore were sold through banks, national savings bureaus and post offices in the first three months of the FY14 whereas the total sales of NSCs in the same period of the FY13 was Tk 5,997.06 crore.
The net investment in the savings instruments stood at Tk 2,097.47 crore in the first three months of this FY14 as the government paid Tk 3,796.23 crore to the investors who cashed their savings tools in the period.
In the first three months of the FY13, the net investment in the savings stood at Tk 453.13 crore as the government had paid Tk 5,543.93 crore to clients.
Another DNS official said that the sales of the savings instruments had increased significantly in the FY10 due to lower interest rates on the banks’ savings products.
The five-year savings tools of the DNS, which were sold in the FY10, will mature in the next financial year meaning that the premature cashing of the instruments will decline in this FY14, he said.
The tenure of the majority of tools of the DNS is three-year and five-year, he said.
He hoped that the net investment in savings tools might cross Tk 6,000 crore in the FY14.
The government in the last financial year collected only Tk 772.84 crore or 10.44 per cent of the annual target of Tk 7,400 crore in investment in the national savings certificates and bonds.
The net investment in the savings tools stood only at Tk 479.02 crore in the FY12 against an annual budgetary target of Tk 6,000 crore.
-With New Age input
