Investment limit on postal savings lowered to Tk20 lakh

The government has lowered the investment limit on postal savings by two-third as part of its plan to set an upper limit on the total investment in all types of national savings schemes and to support the banking system in lowering the lending rate to single digit.

The new upper limit on the investment in postal savings has been set at Tk 10 lakh for single name accounts and Tk 20 lakh for joint accounts for both the savings and fixed deposit account categories.

Earlier, people could invest a maximum of Tk 30 lakh in a single name account and Tk 60 lakh in joint accounts under both types of postal savings schemes.

The Internal Resources Division of the Finance Ministry on May 18 issued a directive reducing the limit with immediate effect.

National savings Directorate has plan to set an upper limit for total investment in all types of national savings tools; for a single investor to Tk 50 lakh and for joint investor's to Tk 1 crore.

Currently, there is an oral instruction to follow such limit on total investment in the savings tools under the National Savings Directorate, although postal savings deposit is not included in that limit.

Four savings instruments — the three-months profit bearing savings certificate scheme, the family savings scheme, the pensioner savings certificate scheme and the five-year Bangladesh Sanchayapatra were separate investment limit and there was a total investment limit.

The government slashed the investment limit on the postal savings tools two and half months after it restored the interest rate on savings on March 16, backtracking from its decision to reduce the rate by half to facilitate the implementation of the single-digit interest rate in the country's banking sector from April 1.

Earlier on February 13, the Internal Resources Division issued a notice reducing the interest rate on the three-year fixed deposit accounts to 6 percent from 11.28 percent on maturity and on savings deposit to 5 percent from 7.5 percent.

From this fiscal year government has tighten the investment process in national savings schemes to reduce interest burden.