Bangladesh Bank’s income from investing the country’s foreign currency reserves is rising. Last fiscal year, the central bank earned more than 120 billion taka in interest by investing reserve funds across various sectors — the highest in the past three fiscal years. As a result, the central bank’s net profit also rose last fiscal year.
Central bank officials said foreign currency reserves at central banks worldwide are typically invested in secure government bonds, securities and deposits. Because coupon rates and interest rates have been higher in global markets, income and returns from this reserve investment have increased.
According to Bangladesh Bank’s financial statement, total interest income from various foreign-currency financial assets came to 120.64 billion taka. Of that, 56.11 billion taka came from foreign bonds and U.S. Treasury notes. Bangladesh Bank also earned significant income from loans and deposits held at various foreign banks. Interest income from loans given to banks totaled 28.56 billion taka, while short-term deposits held at various banks earned 27.25 billion taka. Other foreign assets contributed about another 8.71 billion taka.
According to the annual report for the 2024-25 fiscal year, total income from foreign-currency financial assets that year was 77.03 billion taka, of which interest income accounted for about 76.74 billion taka. In the fiscal year before that, 2023-24, total income from this sector was 65.56 billion taka.
The country currently holds total foreign currency reserves of $36.38 billion, with gross reserves at $31.47 billion.
Bangladesh Bank doesn’t only profit from reserve investment — it also earns income by providing liquidity support to the government and the country’s banks. High interest rates have prevailed in the country for the past two years. Under these conditions, the government has borrowed large sums, while banks facing crises have also taken substantial liquidity support. As a result, Bangladesh Bank earned 226.67 billion taka from domestic sources last fiscal year. That figure was even higher in the 2024-25 fiscal year, at 247.51 billion taka.
Among domestic sources last fiscal year, interest income was the largest contributor. According to the data, Bangladesh Bank earned 215.70 billion taka by lending money to banks. Commission and discount income came to 4.31 billion taka. Dividends brought in 2 billion taka, and other income totaled 4.75 billion taka.
All told, Bangladesh Bank’s total operating income, or gross profit, for the 2025-26 fiscal year came to 350.16 billion taka. After deducting all expenses, net profit came to 259.77 billion taka. Net profit for the 2024-25 fiscal year was 226.20 billion taka, with gross profit at 349.62 billion taka that year. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the central bank posted total profit of 405.66 billion taka, of which net profit was 153.91 billion taka.
It is learned that the central bank has deposited its full net income of 259.77 billion taka into the government treasury — 100 billion taka at the midpoint of the fiscal year and the remaining 159.77 billion taka now. Bangladesh Bank also spent a total of 89.93 billion taka last fiscal year on operations and various other activities.
Bangladesh Bank officials said the policy interest rate had stood at 10% for nearly two years to control inflation, remaining in place throughout last fiscal year. As a result, banks had to borrow from the central bank at high interest rates, which boosted the central bank’s interest income.
Economists say a central bank’s primary function isn’t to turn a profit. As a regulatory body, its core responsibilities are overseeing the banking sector, controlling inflation, increasing private-sector investment and creating employment. Bangladesh Bank’s profit has risen this sharply precisely because of distress in the economy and banking sector. Still, care must be taken to ensure the central bank doesn’t stray from its core mandate in the process of earning profit.
It is learned that even as the broader economy has remained sluggish, the central bank’s lending operations have stayed brisk. With a liquidity crunch in the banking sector, various banks borrowed more from Bangladesh Bank than before, boosting the central bank’s interest income. At the same time, reserve funds invested in various countries around the world also generated good returns. These factors together drove up the central bank’s profit.