Millionaire account holders grow by 8,086 in 2021

The number of millionaire bank accounts in the country increased by 8,086 in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Bangladesh Bank.

At the end of December 2021, the number of millionaire accounts in the banking sector stood at 1,01,976, which was 93,890 one year ago.

When the coronavirus struck the country in March 2020, the number of accounts of individuals and institutions holding more than Tk1 crore in banks was 82,625.

One year later, in September 2021, the number of such accounts exceeded 1 lakh, according to the central bank.

Economists say the rise in the number of millionaire accounts during the pandemic has come as a surprise, which means inequality in the country has increased.

But following the improvement in the Covid situation, businesses returned to normalcy and as a result, some new people were becoming millionaires.

Asked, Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the increase in the number of rich people under normal circumstances was considered positive. However, due to the decline in the income of working people during the pandemic, the increase in the number of the super-rich at the time of increasing poverty was very unbecoming.

She added that in the process of recovery of the economy from the pandemic, the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) was not evenly distributed among different populations.

"As a result, inequality has increased. This fact has become very clear in the information about the increase in the number of millionaires," she added.

Bankers say although the central bank data show the millionaire accounts, it is not the real number of millionaires because there is more than one person behind institutional accounts.  

At the end of September 2021, the number of millionaire accounts stood at 1 lakh 239.

In a span of three months, at the end of December, the number of accounts increased by 1,737. Besides, the number of millionaire accounts in June of that year stood at 99,918.

According to the central bank data, at the end of December 2021, the total number of accounts was more than 12.48 crore, and they held over Tk15.12 lakh crore.

Of this, the total amount in the millionaire accounts is more than Tk6.53 lakh crore.

At the end of December 2020, there were over Tk5.95 lakh crore deposits in the millionaire bank accounts and the bank total deposit was Tk13.79 lakh crore.

According to the central bank data, at the end of December 2021, the number of millionaire accounts holding from Tk1-5 crore is 79,883. The amount of money in these accounts was Tk1.66 lakh crore.

Besides, the number of such accounts having Tk5-20 crore was 17,009. The total amount of money in these accounts was Tk1.58 lakh crore.

And the number of accounts holding Tk20-50 crore was 5084 and the deposits in these accounts were Tk3.28 lakh crore.

In 1972, there were only 5 millionaires in the country which increased to 47 in 1975. In 1980, there were 98 millionaires in the country. The number was 943 in 1990, 2,594 in 1996, 5,162 in 2001, 8,887 in 2006 and 19,163 in 2008.