In the bank sector, there are more than 80,000 depositors who have more than Tk 10 million in their accounts. In the last three months, the number rose by 4,110. BY end June, their number stood at 80,396.
Former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank is wary of this trend. He said: “A class of people are becoming rich by looting money from banks; many are also becoming rich by manipulating share markets.”
Bangladesh Bank says that compared to June, 2009, 58,904 more people have made millions. In June 2009, there were 21,492 persons with more than Tk 10 million in accounts.
As per Bangladesh Bank report, there are 364 persons with more than Tk 400 million in bank accounts; 262 persons have accounts with more than Tk 350 million.
There are 973 persons with Tk 200 million, 1,396 with more than Tk 150 million.
As per central bank, every year, 5,500 people on average are becoming multi- millionaires. Former finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam said, the increasing number of rich resulted in rising social disparities..
What was the source of the money for the rich, he asked.
Many were becoming rich with ill-gotten gains and they were also laundering money outside, he added.
A survey reveals that in 1972 there were only five people in the country with more than Tk 10 million. In 1990, the figure rose to 943 persons. In 2008, the number of people with more than 10 million in bank accounts was 19,163.