Finance
Savings Bond Savings bonds: Repayments higher than sales in December
Dhaka, Feb 2: High inflation is going on worldwide. The prices of daily necessities have increased several times. Many have lost their purchasing power. Bangladesh is not an exception to this worldwide crisis. Last December, food inflation in the country came down below 10 percent, but non-food inflation increased. In view of these, the big challenge now is inflation control. As a result, despite the crisis, the government is not taking loans from the central bank. Although the borrowing from the domestic sector has decreased, the pressure of repayment of previous loans and interest is still there.
The latest updated report of the central bank says that the net sale of savings bonds in December, the last month of the member outgoing year, was a negative Tk 2,204 crore 32 lakh. In other words, savings bonds have been sold less than the loan and interest payments. But investment in savings bonds increased in July and August in the first two months of the current financial year 2023-24. In the first month of July, the net sales amount was Tk 3,250 crore. In the following month, August, the net sales were Tk 2,312 crore 33 lakh.
Net sales again turned negative in September, the third month of the fiscal year. In the month, the government had to spend Tk 148 crore more on interest payments than the amount it borrowed from the sale of savings bonds. According to the data, in the first six months (July-December) of the current financial year 2023-24, the amount of net sales of savings bonds stood at negative Tk 6,063 crore. It means, the government has paid the interest-principal of the savings bonds sold earlier than the amount of savings bonds sold during the discussed period. Additional money has to be paid by borrowing from the treasury or banking system.
