Total deposits of all banks in Bangladesh have increased by Tk7,85,938 crore—along with the growing number of bank accounts—over the last ten years.
Bank deposits stood at Tk10,38,694 as of June this year, up from Tk2,52,756 crore in 2008, according to a special report of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
According to bankers, the banking sector—despite having to go through serious challenges—has played a major role behind the progress of the economy.
The central bank’s report, aimed at informing about their contribution to the government’s success in the last 10 years, further stated that the total number of public and private commercial banks went up from 47 in 2008 to 59 in 2018.
Association of Bankers’, Bangladesh (ABB) president and managing director of Dhaka Bank Ltd Syed Mahbubur Rahman recently said in a press meet that the banking sector has gone a lot of development in the last ten years.
“The country has been achieving over 7% GDP growth for the last three fiscal years and, on an average, 6.5% for a decade. Increased foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances and poverty alleviation suggest how banks played a contributing role,” Mahbubur added.
As of June this year, the total number of bank accounts stood at 92.1 million, of them 931,800 is farmers’ bank accounts.
The BB report further said the number of bank branches also increased in this period. A total of 3,228 branches of both private and state-owned banks have been established in Bangladesh over the last 10 years—taking the total number of bank branches in the country from 6,886 in June, 2008, to 10,114 in June this year.
Over the last ten years, banks’ credit rose by Tk5,24,836 crore, standing at Tk8,47,012 crore as of June this year.
Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserve has registered more than 450% growth in the last ten years standing at $31.95 billion—up by 450.86%, from $5.8 billion in December, 2008.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, trade analysts and economists said that the country’s foreign reserves rose sharply because of the steady economic growth, robust export earnings, and healthy remittance inflows in the last several years.
“The country’s economic activities have increased significantly over the last decade. Besides, remittance inflows and foreign investment have also surged,” said Centre for Policy Dialogue Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem.
Additionally, foreign fund inflows such as loans and grants went up, helping the economy get a healthy foreign exchange reserve, said Moazzem.
According to the report, in the last 10 years, major reforms have been made to the financial sector through digitalizing the financial sector, digitalizing the central bank, online CIB (Credit Information Bureau) services, modernization of payment systems, mobile banking services, and improving quality of customer service.
