At least 21 out of 48 commercial banks in Bangladesh have increased their interest rates on deposits this month to minimize the spread between lending and deposit rates in order to collect fresh funds from general clients.
A senior banker on Sunday in Dhaka said Bangladesh's commercial banks have raised their deposit rates in the range between 0.25 and 3.00 percentage points depending on the period.
Remaining commercial banks are also in the process of increasing interest rates on deposits to lower the spread between lending and deposit rates, he said.
Earlier, the commercial banks, particularly the private commercial banks of Bangladesh, agreed with the country's central bank to reduce the interest rate spread between lending and deposit rates to around 5.0 percent from the existing 6.05 percent.
A senior banker said that the real interest rate on deposited money in Bangladesh is still low and, to some extent, negative because of high inflation rate that was over 10 percent in February.
According to the central bank statistics, Bangladesh's commercial banks presently offer interest from 3.75 percent to 13. 00 percent on fixed deposits schemes while the rates for saving accounts varies between 3.75 percent and 8.00 percent.
The data showed that the country's commercial banks' lending rates on working capital range between 10.50 and 16.30 percent while export credit is offered at seven percent.