The government has withdrawn the upper limit for investment in wage earner development bonds like US dollar premium bonds and US dollar investment bonds for expatriate Bangladeshis. At the same time the automatic reinvestment facility has been further rationalized.
This information was informed in a notification issued by the internal resources department of the government on Monday (November 3). This order will be effective from December 1.
In the notification, non-resident Bangladeshi mariners, pilots and cabin crew working in overseas offices of foreign-owned shipping or air wages companies have the opportunity to invest in wage earner bonds, besides providing monthly profit instead of quarterly profit in pensioner savings certificates for the benefit of pensioners.
It has been said that, in the case of Wage Earner Development Bond, there will be no upper investment limit from now on, so non-resident Bangladeshis can invest any amount of money in this bond. In the case of Family Savings Bonds, Pensioner Savings Bonds, Quarterly Profit Based Savings Bonds, Wage Earner Development Bonds, US Dollar Premium Bonds and US Dollar Investment Bonds under the ‘National Savings Scheme’, the principal amount invested can be automatically reinvested. On the other hand, the five-year Bangladesh Savings Bank and Post Office Savings Bank-term accounts will have the benefit of reinvesting the principal invested with profit.
In the case of investment in Wage Earner Development Bonds, remittances properly brought once can be invested in one period and reinvested in two more periods i.e. in three periods for a total of 15 years. In the case of US Dollar Premium Bonds and US Dollar Investment Bonds, remittances duly brought can be invested once and reinvested four more times i.e. for a maximum of five consecutive terms for a total of 15 years.
Apart from this, withdrawal of investment ceiling in Wage Earner Development Bonds, US Dollar Premium Bonds and US Dollar Investment Bonds under the National Savings Scheme and provision of automatic reinvestment facility in savings bonds and provision of investment facility in Wage Earner Bonds for Bangladeshi mariners, pilots and cabin crew, all expatriate Bangladeshis have more Foreign currency can accelerate the economic development of Bangladesh by properly bringing and investing in Bangladesh.
Incidentally, as per the Wage Earners Development Bond Rules, 1981 (amended on 23 May 2015), any amount of money was allowed to be invested. During the outbreak of Covid-19, the IRD, through a notification on December 3, 2020, set a combined investment limit of one crore foreign currency equivalent in Wage Earners Development Bonds, US Dollar Premium Bonds and US Dollar Investment Bonds. Then on April 4, 2022, the cap on US dollar premium bonds and US dollar investment bonds was lifted. As a result, any amount invested is coming in two bonds. However, the investment limit of Wage Earners Development Bond has not been withdrawn. Again, there is no possibility of automatic reinvestment of the bond money.
