Dhaka, April 27 -- While the number of bank branches in rural areas of Bangladesh has grown, key financial indicators such as rural deposits, loan disbursements, and the loan-deposit ratio in agent banking show a worrying decline, undermining efforts toward financial inclusion in these regions.
Data from the Bangladesh Bank reveal that the number of both private and public bank branches in rural areas increased from 5,069 in 2019 to over 5,400 by the end of December last year. Despite this expansion, rural banking activities have faced significant setbacks.
In a striking development, rural deposits saw their first decline in five years, dropping by 21 percent year-on-year to Tk 266,415 crore in the last quarter of 2023, even as national s...