Staff Correspondent:

In the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year of 2024-25, Bangladesh has repaid a higher amount of debt compared to the previous fiscal year.

According to a report published by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) on Thursday (May 29), in the first 10 months of FY25, the country has repaid $3.507 billion to development partners.

In contrast, the country had repaid a total of $3.37 billion in the last fiscal year of 2023-24.

ERD officials said the pressure of debt repayment is steadily increasing, mainly because the grace periods for many large loans taken for mega projects and budget support in previous years have ended.

Additionally, high market-based interest rates have also contributed to this growing burden, they said.

According to ERD data, during the same period (July-April) of FY24, Bangladesh had repaid a total of $2.812 billion in principal and interest on foreign loans. Compared to FY24, foreign debt repayment has increased by 24.73% in FY25.

As per ERD, principal repayments during this period have risen by 32.86%.

In the first 10 months of FY25, the government paid $2.021 billion in principal to various development partners. The amount was $1.663 billion during the same period of FY24.

On the other hand, interest payments during the July-April period have increased by 12.95%.

Up to April of FY25, $1.297 billion was paid in interest to development partners — compared to $1.148 billion during the same period last year.