Bangladesh’s external sector has grown stronger on three indicators: rising remittance income, improved foreign exchange reserves and a surplus in the overall balance of payments.
In the 2025-26 fiscal year, the country’s overall balance of payments surplus nearly doubled. Remittances, or expatriate income, and foreign exchange reserves also rose during the same period. The trend has continued in the first two months of the current fiscal year.
According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the country’s overall balance of payments surplus stood at $661 crore in the 2025-26 fiscal year. In the previous 2024-25 fiscal year, the surplus was $339 crore.
Strong growth in remittance inflows was also seen at the start of the current fiscal year. Foreign exchange reserves were also above $37 billion in August.
Bangladesh Bank data show expatriates sent about $297 crore to the country in August. In the same month last year, the amount was $242 crore. That means remittance income rose by about 22.5 percent in a year. Compared with $286 crore in July, remittance income rose by about 3.8 percent in August.
As a result, in the July-August period of the current 2026-27 fiscal year, remittance income reached about $583 crore, about 19 percent higher than in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Earlier, remittance income posted record growth in the 2025-26 fiscal year. In that fiscal year, expatriates sent about $3 thousand 559 crore to the country. In the previous fiscal year, the amount was $3 thousand 33 crore.
Bangladesh Bank executive director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan told BSS that the continued growth in remittances is positive for the country’s external sector. It also reflects growing confidence among expatriates in sending money through formal banking channels.
He said the government and the central bank are working to make formal remittance channels easier and more attractive. Steps have also been taken to discourage illegal hundi transactions.
Remittance inflows also posted notable growth over the six months from March to August this year. During the period, the country received $1 thousand 894 crore in remittances, 13.1 percent higher than the $1 thousand 674 crore received in the same period of 2025.
Foreign exchange reserves are also rising due to increased remittance income and the overall improvement in the external sector.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, the country’s gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $3 thousand 735 crore at the end of August. At the end of July, reserves were $3 thousand 642 crore. At the end of August 2025, reserves were $3 thousand 117 crore.
Reserves calculated under the International Monetary Fund’s BPM6 method stood at $3 thousand 244 crore at the end of August. At the end of July, the amount was $3 thousand 158 crore. A year earlier, it was $2 thousand 617 crore.
On that basis, gross reserves increased by about $619 crore, or about 20 percent, in a year.
Bangladesh Bank said the upward trend in foreign exchange reserves is continuing. The steady flow of remittances is playing an important role in increasing reserves.
Meanwhile, relative stability has also been maintained in the foreign exchange market. According to Bangladesh Bank’s transaction-based reference rate, the exchange rate on September 23 was Tk123.17 per dollar. At the end of August, the rate was about Tk123.21.
This exchange-rate stability is also important for increasing remittances through formal banking channels. When the gap between dollar exchange rates in formal and informal markets is low, expatriates are more encouraged to send money through legal channels.
The third important indicator of the external sector is the overall balance of payments. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the sector recorded a $661 crore surplus in the 2025-26 fiscal year, nearly double the $339 crore surplus in the previous fiscal year.
Although the country’s trade deficit and some current-account deficits increased, the overall balance of payments improved. In the 2025-26 fiscal year, the country’s financial account had a surplus of about $790 crore, which played a major role in maintaining the overall balance of external transactions.
Bangladesh Bank said that despite the rise in the trade deficit, the stability of the external sector is being maintained because of strong remittance inflows.
Alongside this improvement in the external sector, import activity has also regained momentum. According to Bangladesh Bank data, imports rose by 10.7 percent in the 2025-26 fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, the growth was 2.44 percent.
Imports of intermediate goods in particular rose by 15.19 percent. According to the central bank, the increase in imports of these goods could help expand production and economic activity in the coming months.
In addition, openings of import letters of credit, or LCs, rose by 6.60 percent in the 2025-26 fiscal year. LC settlements, however, rose only slightly.
NRBC Bank PLC chairman Md Ali Hossain Prodhania said the type of import growth is important in determining its effect on the domestic economy. If the growth comes from imports of industrial raw materials, capital machinery and other productive inputs, it will be supportive for the economy.
He said the strong position of the external sector is giving Bangladesh additional capacity to meet import costs and external liabilities.
Bangladesh Bank’s recent assessment said the overall balance of payments surplus in the 2025-26 fiscal year, several monetary policy steps and a market-based exchange-rate system have brought stability to the foreign exchange market.
The central bank has taken several steps to strengthen the foreign exchange market further. In August, direct operations of the Foreign Exchange Market, or FXM, module were launched for foreign exchange market intervention and interbank transaction management.
Since then, several more steps have been taken, including facilities for offshore banking units and specialized foreign currency transactions.
NRBC Bank chairman Ali Hossain Prodhania said improvements in remittances and reserves are helping increase foreign exchange liquidity. At the same time, banks’ pressure to collect dollars for import payments is also easing.
He said maintaining a competitive and relatively stable exchange rate, improving services for sending remittances through formal channels and expanding overseas employment opportunities are important to sustain this trend.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report