Despite an economic slump, the number of millionaire bank accounts in the country increased by 1,621 in the first three months of 2022.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, currently the number of millionaire accounts in the banking sector stands at 103,597, which was 101,976 at the end of December last year.
During the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, the number of accounts of individuals and institutions holding more than Tk1 crore in banks was 82,625.
A year later, in September 2021, the number of such accounts exceeded 100,000, according to the central bank.
According to the central bank's quarterly scheduled bank statistics, the deposits in the millionaire bank accounts have increased by Tk9,647 crore in the first three months (January-March) of 2022.
As of March 2022, the total amount of deposit in the millionaire accounts stands at Tk663,505 crore.
It was around Tk653,858 crore at the end of last year.
As per the central bank data, the number of millionaire accounts is less than 1% of the total bank accounts, which holds about 44% of the total deposit.
Till March 2022, the total number of bank accounts stood at 12.73 crores with a deposit amounting to a total of Tk15,14,895 crore.
In the last 10 years (2010-2019), the number of millionaires - with an asset value worth Tk50 lakh - in the country has increased at an average rate of 14.3%, the highest growth recorded in the world during the period.
In 1972, there were only 5 millionaires in the country which increased to 47 in 1975.
In 1980, there were 98 millionaires in the country.
The number was 943 in 1990, 2,594 in 1996, 5,162 in 2001, 8,887 in 2006 and 19,163 in 2008.