Home ›› 07 Sep 2022 ›› Front
Even when Bangladesh’s economy was navigating through a crisis due to the USD shortage and inflation pressure – triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war since March 2022, the number of bank accounts with more than one crore taka has increased the most.
An analysis of the last four quarters’ data show that the number of bank accounts holding more than one crore taka, increased by 4,860 to reach 1,08,457 in the June quarter of this year, compared to the March quarter.
Previously, the number of such accounts increased by 1,621 in the March quarter of this year compared to the December quarter of last year. And in the December quarter, it increased by 1,737 compared to September quarter last year.
The number of such accounts increased by 321 in the September quarter last year compared to the June quarter. These data were obtained by analysing reports published by the Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday.
When asked about the unusual increase of the number of accounts in June, former lead economist of World Bank (Dhaka Office) Zahid Hussain told The Business Post that prices of goods and services have increased due to inflation.
Again, the amount of exports has also increased a lot that quarter.
“But on the contrary, wages had not increased. As a result, enterprises made more profits in April-June compared to other quarters. Due to which the number of accounts with taka one crore and may have increased so much.”
Analysis of the central bank data shows that at the end of June this year, the number of accounts with more than one crore taka stood at 1,08,457. At the end of June last year, this number was 99,918. That is, the number of such accounts has increased to 8,539 in one year.
Tk 6,80,362 crore are deposited in the accounts at the end of June, which is 43 per cent of the total bank deposits. At the end of June, the total amount of deposits in the banking sector was Tk 15,73,823 crore.
Analysts say that this figure does not truly dictate the number of accounts with more than Tk 1 crore. Along with individuals, there are institutions in this list. The Bangladesh Bank does not disclose the actual number of individual multimillionaires in the country.
They said even if an individual’s account is not known, it can be assumed that the wealth of the people of the country is increasing. Businesses are increasing so the number of millionaires is also increasing.
Besides, 43 per cent of the total deposits are deposited in accounts with more than crores of taka, proving that income inequality is increasing in the country.
Zahid Hussain said, “When profits increase and returns are high, wealth also increases. And if the wealth increases, the amount of savings also increases. But it will not grow the same for everyone.
“However the growing disparity in Bangladesh is not only deposits but also as the Bureau of Statistics has come up many times.”
According to the World Ultra Wealth Report-2018, Bangladesh has left behind the world’s major economies in terms of the growth rate of the number of ultra-rich or billionaires.
In the next five years from 2012, the number of billionaires in Bangladesh increased at an average rate of 17 per cent. This rate is higher than 75 major economies including the United States, China, Japan, and India.
According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, among the multimillionaire account holders, the highest amount of money is deposited in the accounts which are deposited Tk 50 crore. At the end of June this year the number of such accounts stood at 1,805 and the amount of money deposited was Tk 2,36,811.56 crore.
Apart from this, the number of accounts with deposits between Tk 1 crore and Tk 5 crore is the highest, a total of 85,841 and these accounts have deposits of Tk 1,76,908.27 crore.
Meanwhile, ordinary income people who can save up to Tk 5 lakh in the bank in a year, their deposits amount to Tk 2,87,144 crore at the end of June, which was 18 per cent of the total deposits.
