Bangladesh’s external debt climbs to $113.44 billion, World Bank reports

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Bangladesh’s external debt has reached $113.44 billion, equivalent to around $646 per citizen, according to the World Bank’s latest International Debt Report.

At an exchange rate of Tk124.35 per dollar, the total debt amounts to approximately Tk14.1 trillion.

The World Bank estimates Bangladesh’s population at 175.7 million in 2025. Based on this figure, the external debt burden stands at $646, or Tk80,330, per person.

The figures were published in the International Debt Report 2026, released at the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington on Thursday.

Bangladesh’s external debt has nearly tripled over the past decade, rising from $38.77 billion in 2015.

Of the current total, $89.51 billion is public and publicly guaranteed debt, $9.87 billion is private debt without government guarantees, and $14.06 billion is short-term borrowing.

Multilateral institutions account for $51.14 billion of public and publicly guaranteed loans, while bilateral lenders are owed $32.65 billion.

The World Bank is Bangladesh’s largest multilateral creditor, with $22.64 billion outstanding. The Asian Development Bank follows with $17.52 billion, while other multilateral institutions account for another $10.99 billion.

Among bilateral lenders, Japan is the largest creditor, with $12.72 billion in outstanding loans, followed by Russia at $9.02 billion. Other countries collectively account for $10.90 billion.

Public and publicly guaranteed debt includes loans taken from international financial institutions and foreign governments. Private non-guaranteed borrowing, by contrast, does not carry a government guarantee. Short-term debt covers obligations with shorter repayment periods than long-term loans recorded at the end of the year.

Bangladesh Bank figures

Bangladesh Bank's latest figures, released on October 12, show that the country's external debt stood at a record $114.98 billion at the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. At the prevailing exchange rate, this was equivalent to Tk14.3 trillion.

The central bank reported that external debt increased by nearly $4 billion, or 3.65%, over three months. It stood at $110.93 billion at the end of March and $113.52 billion at the end of December. At the end of June a year earlier, the figure was $113.58 billion.

According to Bangladesh Bank, external debt grew by 1.29% over six months and 1.23% over the year.