The number of bank accounts with more than Tk 1 crore in deposits increased by 3,412 to 86,037 in the April-June quarter this year, when the coronavirus outbreak-induced economic shock was the most intense, compared with the number of such accounts in the previous quarter.

The amount of deposits in such accounts also rose by Tk 25,312.4 crore during the period, according to a Bangladesh Bank report released on Monday.

Former interim government adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age, ‘Even though the overall deposit growth has dropped in recent times, the amount of deposits in such accounts has increased as the businesses refrained from making fresh investments.’

A fall in imports after the outbreak of coronavirus was also a reason for the increased deposits in those accounts of the businesspeople as they found no alternative investment scope, he said.

As per the BB data, the amount of deposits in accounts having more than Tk 1 crore in deposits rose to Tk 5,41,190 crore at the end of June this year from Tk 5,15,878 crore three months ago.

Considering the number of bank accounts in the country’s banking sector, such accounts represent 0.077 per cent of the 11.17 crore bank accounts.

These accounts constitute a tiny portion of the country’s total bank accounts but hold almost half of the total deposits in the banks.

Their share in the total Tk 12,64,167.16-crore bank deposits increased to 42.81 per cent at the end of June this year against 42.62 per cent of Tk 12,10,498 crore three months earlier.

The number of bank accounts with more than Tk 1 crore in deposits and the amount of deposits in such accounts has been on the rise for years.

In 2019, the number of such accounts increased to 83,839 against 75,563 in December, 2018.

While a tiny section of people was in possession of almost half of the cash in the country’s banking sector, a large section of the remaining population struggled hard to survive amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The average income of the urban slum dwellers and the rural poor has dropped by more than 80 per cent amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to a joint survey conducted by the Power and Participation Research Centre and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development.

Some 40 per cent of the poor population and 35 per cent of the vulnerable non-poor have already reduced their food consumption to cope with the situation, the survey found.

Another BB data showed, the deposits in hard-core poor’s bank accounts, which were opened with Tk 10 as deposit under The government’s financial inclusion programme, dropped by 23.49 per cent to Tk 246.94 crore at the end of June this year from Tk 322.76 crore three months ago.

Mirza Aziz said that the coronavirus-induced economic shock affected the poor people most and many of them fell under poverty line during the period.

To survive, many of them used their savings, he said.

According to the BB data, the number of accounts with deposits of Tk 1 crore has increased more than four times or by 66,401 in the last eleven years.

The number of such accounts was 19,636 in March, 2009.

Since 2009, deposits in such bank accounts have increased by almost seven times or Tk 4,61,324 crore from Tk 79,866 crore.

The number of such accounts was only five in 1972.