Opposition Jatiya Party MP Pir Fazlur Rahman on Sunday strongly criticised the government for slashing interest rates on postal savings certificate and demanded a statement from the Finance Minister on the issue in Parliament.
He also asked the government restore the previous rate of postal savings.
He came up with the demand while speaking on a point of order in the House.
Pir Fazlur Rahman lambasted Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal saying he has sought to put his hand in the money of women who used to earn their livelihood through the earnings from postal savings.
He demanded that the finance minister give a statement in parliament under section 300 of the rules of procedure of parliament on this issue.
The JP MP said around Tk 75,000 crore is being laundered abroad every year from the country.
He said loan defaulters are laundering money abroad after looting money from banks.
The JP MP urged the finance minister to bring back that laundered money and to recover $ 101 M which was stolen from Bangladesh Bank reserve in 2016.
The government on February 14 slashed interest rates on postal savings by half as part of its efforts to reduce interest rates on bank loans and deposits, and promote investment in private sector.
The Internal Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance on Thursday issued a circular regarding this with immediate effect.
The interest rate on one-year savings was reduced to 5 percent from 10.20 percent.
For two-year schemes, interest rate was cut to 5.50 percent from 10.70 percent while it was slashed to 6 percent from 11.28 percent for three-year schemes.
The depositors can withdraw profits from their postal savings after six months. In such case, interest rate would be 4 percent for one-year schemes, 4.5 percent for two-year schemes and 5 percent for three-year schemes, according to the circular.
Previously, the rates were 9 percent, 9.50 percent and 10 percent respectively.
The majority of banks have already implemented the decision to offer 6 percent interest rate on their Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs).
The banks are also expected to provide loans at 9 percent interest rate within a couple of months.
