Bangladesh's foreign debt has exceeded $100 billion. It is the first in the history of the country. At the end of 2023, the total foreign debt stood at 100.6 billion dollars. A year ago it was 96.5 billion dollars. Overall, the external debt position increased by $4.12 billion during the year.
This information was found in the latest report of Bangladesh Bank. It is said that the public sector has taken 79.69 billion dollars of the total debt. And the rest is taken by the private sector. 85 percent of these loans are long-term. Besides, the rest are short-term.
According to Central Bank data, foreign debt at the end of 2015-16 financial year was 41.17 billion dollars. At the end of the fiscal year 2022-23, it stood at 98.11 billion dollars. This means that the foreign debt of the country has increased more than twice in the last 8 years. At the end of last December, it increased further.
According to the latest data of Census and Housing Census, the population of the country is 16.98 million. Accordingly, after last December, foreign debt per capita stood at 592 dollars. In Bangladesh currency which is about 65 thousand taka. But as of last June it was 574 dollars. 8 years ago which was a little over $257.
The government has taken the most foreign loans from organizations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and from countries like Japan, China, Russia and India. According to the Economic Relations Department (ERD), Japan and China were the top creditor countries in the fiscal year 2022-23. World Bank and ADB were at the top in lending among the organizations.
Economic experts say that there is a shortage of foreign exchange in the country. In this situation, the increase in external debt will pose a challenge in the future. Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) Executive Director Ahsan H. Mansoor said, foreign debt is increasing. It is worrying for the country. To deal with the situation, supplier credit from China and Russia should be stopped.
Bandhan/Ciecha/Saa