Bangladesh Bank (BB) has reissued its directives to the scheduled banks asking them not to provide interest or profit to the fixed or term depositors above the fixed and announced rates.

The Bank Rules and Policy Department (BRPD) of BB reissued the circular on Wednesday.

The circular mentioned that the central bank has observed that some of the banks were providing higher rates for the fixed deposit for attracting more deposits.

Experts opined that the ongoing liquidity crisis in the banking sector has been leading the commercial banks to collect deposit even paying higher rate of profit.

During the need, the banks often come to forget the guidelines or directives issued by the central bank, which is not a good practice for the banks, they said.

Eminent Economist and former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled told daily sun that the central bank has no right to fix up the interest rate sine a free-economy exists here.

The banks themselves are supposed to fix-up their own interest rates and there should be a little chance that the banks violate their self imposed rates, he added.

Nonetheless, the banks are violating their own rates and Bangladesh Bank has all the right to resist them from such practices, Ibrahim Khaled said.

Earlier, the central bank directed all the scheduled banks not to impose interest upon the fixed deposit more than the BB announced rates.

Macro Economist Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mahbub Ali said the circular from BB was quite justified since the banks had been violating directives.

The BB has also advised the scheduled banks to provide a weekly list of fixed deposit accounts of Tk 10 million and above, renewed or issued by the respective banks.

Information on the fixed deposits issued or renewed till the last day of a week will have to be sent to BB within the next three days, signed by the Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of respective banks, the circular said.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 1st March 2012