Call money rate almost doubles in a week
The rate is increasing due to rapid increase in investment in the post-pandemic economy
Call money rate almost doubled on Tuesday in the span of a week, thanks to a sudden increase in demand for cash in banks as investment has risen in various sectors after the pandemic situation turned a corner.
Seeking anonymity, a government bank treasury official told The Business Standard that for the last couple of weeks, the call money rate has significantly been increasing. Now, bank-to-bank call money transactions are happening at a rate of more than 4.50%, while the rate is 5.25% for non-bank financial institutions.
The rate is increasing due to rapid increase in investment in the post-pandemic economy, the official added.
According to the Bangladesh Bank, on Monday, interbank call money transactions were worth Tk5,388 crore at a rate of 4.31%. A week ago, the rate was at 2.93%.
Earlier on 15 November, the call money rate hit a 14-month high. On that day, the interbank call money transactions amounted to Tk8,378 crore at a rate of 3.14%.
On 7 November, the amount of call money transactions was Tk8,748 crore and the rate was 2.27%.
Central bank data says the call money rate was 1.78% in January, which rose to 2.8% in May and dropped to 2.25% in June. The rate was below 2% in August, but since the first week of November it started rising.