Govt cuts interest rates on savings certificates

The government has lowered the interest rates on all types of National Savings Certificates for the second half of 2025.

The interest rate ceiling for certificates has been set at 12 per cent, while the floor is 9.74 per cent.

Previously, the lowest interest rate for certificates was 10.13 per cent and the highest was 12.55 per cent, reports bdnews24.com.

The Department of National Savings issued a notification on Monday fixing the new interest rates. However, the existing interest rate for four types of schemes -- Wage Earner Development Bond, US Dollar Premium Bond, US Dollar Investment Bond and Post Office Savings Bank General Account -- will remain unchanged.

The government has decided to revise the interest rate on savings certificates every six months. It had previously announced rates in January for the next six months.

Even if the interest rate changes, the rate fixed at the time of purchase will be maintained until the scheme under which the investment was made matures.

One interest rate is set for investing Tk 750,000 in savings certificates individually or jointly. The government offers a relatively lower interest rate for investments exceeding that amount.

According to the latest decision, the interest rate for an investment of Tk 750,000 in a pensioner savings certificate for five years will be 11.98 per cent, which is the highest interest rate. Previously, the highest rate was 12.55 per cent.

The interest rate for an investment of Tk 750,000 in this scheme for one year will be 9.84 percent. Earlier, it was 10.23 per cent for one year.

If an investment of Tk 750,000 in a five-year Bangladesh Savings Certificate is withdrawn after a year, the interest rate will be 9.74 per cent. If the investment is more than Tk 750,000, the interest rate for the same period will be 9.72 per cent.

Interest rates are also determined every three months for profit-based savings certificates, family savings certificates and post office savings accounts.

Family savings certificates are the most popular savings scheme. The interest rate for an investment of up to Tk 750,000 in this savings certificate for a period of five years is now 11.93 per cent, down from 12.50 per cent previously.

If withdrawn after a year, the interest rate comes down to 9.81 percent, from 20.20 percent previously.

For investments of more than Tk 750,000, the minimum interest rate is 10.11 per cent and the maximum is 12.37 per cent.

To meet the budget deficit, the government plans to borrow Tk 1.26 trillion from domestic sources for the 2025-26 budget, which is 2.0 per cent of GDP.

Of this amount, the government has targeted raising Tk 125 billion from savings certificates. Over the last 10 months of the fiscal year 2024-25, the government had to repay more than it had borrowed from savings certificates.

The government had to pay net interests of Tk 74.31 billion over the last 10 months for savings certificates, meaning that the sector saw debt growth. It had planned to borrow Tk 140 billion from the scheme in the previous fiscal year.