Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The government is going to revise downward the yield of its savings instruments on Sunday to ease up the bulging debt burden following a surge in the demand for the same from the savers.
"Savings certificates interest rates are really very high. We have discussed and reviewed the situation and you will get the results Sunday," Finance Minister AMA Muhith reportedly said while addressing a live televised budget discussion meeting at a city hotel on Friday night.
Earlier on April 14 last, the Cash and Debt Management Committee (CDMC) decided at a meeting held at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to review the interest rates on the investment tools.
“The yields on saving instruments will be re-fixed matching with the interest rates on term deposits in banks,” a senior official said.
The deposits covering tenures between three and 12 months are the prime modes of the fixed deposits which constitute around 90 per cent of the total public money deposited with banks.
He also said the yields on savings certificates will be higher than that of bank deposits even after revising the existing interest rates on the savings instruments.
But the interest rates on US Dollar Premium Bond, US Dollar Investment Bond and Wage Earner Development Bond will remain unchanged, he added.
Four types of savings certificates -- Five Years Sanchayapatra, Three Monthly Sanchayapatra, Pensioner Sanchayapatra and Poribar Sanchayapatra -- are now on the money market for public subscription.
Currently, average interest rate on deposit, offered by the commercial banks, is around 8.50 per cent, while the rate for savings tools averaged 13 per cent.