After a brief pause, most Bangladeshi banks have seen an increase in deposits.
Deposits in the country's banking sector surged by roughly Tk17,995 crore in the first month of the year.
According to the most recent data from the central bank, the total amount of deposits in banks remained at Tk15,047,67 at the end of February 2023.
Demand deposits totalled Tk1.79 lakh crore, while time deposits totalled Tk13.26 lakh crore.
The total deposit at the end of January was Tk14,87,772 crore.
It was Tk14.87 lakh crore in November 2022, rising to Tk14.89 lakh crore in December.
The total amount of deposits in banks in October 2022 was Tk14.90 lakh crore.
Deposits increased 6.86% year on year (YoY) in February. Previously, the rate was 6.14% in January, implying that deposit growth jumped by 72 basis points in a month.
In December 2022, deposit growth was 5.44%.
According to economists and bankers, most banks had high deposit rates in February. They also raised the lending rate, but it was lower than the deposit rate. As a result, bank interest income climbed marginally in February over January.
Nevertheless, on January 15, this year, the central bank relaxed the 6% deposit rate restriction and permitted a 3% interest rate increase on consumer loans.
Following that, commercial banks raised deposit rates in order to attract more deposits.
According to central bank data, the average deposit interest rate increased to 4.31% in February from 4.29% in January.
In December 2022, it was 4.23%. In February of the previous year, the rate was 4.02%.
The average loan interest rate jumped 3 basis points to 7.27% in February from January.
This has had an impact on banks' interest revenues, as it rose from 2.95% in January to 2.96% in February.
Loan growth, on the other hand, fell to 13.26% in February 2023 from 13.89% in January 2023.
In December 2022, the amount of loans in banks was Tk14.41 lakh crore, Tk14.18 lakh crore in November and Tk14.03 crore in October last year.
