Despite recent increases in external borrowing, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has determined that Bangladesh has a low risk of external and total debt distress. The country’s total external debt as of the end of the previous fiscal year was $166.1 billion, or 39 percent of GDP, much below the benchmark of 55 percent.
The World Bank receives $18.2 billion of the $72.3 billion in foreign loans, followed by the Asian Development Bank ($13.3 billion), Japan ($9.2 billion), Russia ($5.1 billion), China ($4.8 billion), India ($1.02 billion), and the World Bank ($8.2 billion). Due to the significant depreciation of the taka, external medium- and long-term debt—which is often of a concessional type and has assisted in financing infrastructure projects—is anticipated to increase in the fiscal year 2022–2023 before progressively dropping to approximately 14.1% of GDP by fiscal 2032-33 and 8.6 percent by fiscal 2042-43.
Source:
The Daily Star