Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today told parliament that while there are some liquidity crises in the stock market, there is no liquidity crisis in the banking sector.
The minister’s question-and-answer was tabled at the beginning of the House sitting chaired by Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
Responding to a question from Gonoforum MP Mukabbir Khan, the finance minister said that scheduled banks have extra liquidity even after keeping essential cash reserve ratio and reserving the required statutory liquidity ratio. The amount of this liquidity increased to Tk 1,06,101 crore in December 2019 from Tk 67,601 crore in January 2019.
The finance minister said the banks and other financial institutions were not investing in the capital market at the desired level due to the low borrowing rates in the banking sector and the supply of credit to the private sector. As a result, there are some liquidity crises in the stock market.
In response to the question of reserved seat MP Adiba Anjum, the finance minister said the number of taxpayers at individual level in the country is 45,60,666 at present.
In response to the question of BNP MP Mosharraf Hossain, Kamal said, as per the data of September, 2019, the number of loan accounts in the country is one crore and the loan status is Tk 9,69,646 crore.
Kamal also told parliament that the government borrowed over Tk 13,27,624 crore from Bangladesh Bank and scheduled banks from January, 2009 to December, 2019.
Within this period, the government also paid back Tk 11,31,840 crore against the loan amount, which means the government’s net loan is Tk 1,95,783 crore, the finance minister said in reply to a query from Awami League MP Momota Hena Lovely.
Responding to another question from Momota Hena, the finance minister said that as part of mid- and long-term loan, the government signed 34 loan and grant agreements with 14 development countries and organisations as of December 2019 to get Tk 2,621 crore.
In response to the question of BNP MP Harunur Rashid, the finance minister said that till December this year, the amount of foreign loan/assistance amounted to Tk 23,023 crore.
