Tk 35.74 billion savings certificates sales smash record for a single month

The government no more requires borrowing from the banks to offset budget deficit after a record amount of savings certificates were sold in January.Savings instruments worth Tk 35.74 billion were sold in January alone this year.The government paid back Tk 9.71 billion in interest and principal in the month, when net sales clocked Tk 26.03 billion.In the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year, net sales of savings certificates rose to Tk 157.39 billion, more than three times the figure of the same period last year.In the July-January period of the 2013-14 FY, net sales of savings instruments were Tk 49.83 billion.Economist Zaid Bakht said people were getting increasingly drawn to safer investment in savings certificates since the countrywide transport blockade and shutdowns had narrowed the scopes of small investment.He said the low interest rates on bank deposit and sluggish capital market also diverted funds to saving instruments.