External Sector Rebounds: BoP Surplus Nearly Doubles to $6.61b

Bangladesh’s external finances have staged a dramatic turnaround, with the balance of payments surplus almost doubling to a record $6.61 billion in FY2025-26, as a powerful remittance surge and stronger financial inflows rebuilt the country’s foreign-exchange buffer.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the overall BoP surplus rose from $3.39 billion in FY2024-25 to $6.61 billion last fiscal year, despite a widening trade deficit and a return of stronger import growth.

The improvement has carried into the current fiscal year, powered largely by a surge in workers’ remittances, a rebuilding of foreign-exchange reserves and greater stability in the foreign-exchange market.

Bangladesh received about $2.97 billion in remittances in August 2026, up 22.5 per cent from $2.42 billion in August 2025 and 3.8 per cent from $2.86 billion in July. Remittance inflows reached approximately $5.83 billion during July-August of FY2026-27, nearly 19 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The latest figures extend a remarkable recovery in remittance earnings. Migrant Bangladeshis sent home a record $35.59 billion in FY2025-26, sharply higher than $30.33 billion a year earlier.

Bangladesh Bank has described the external position as stable, citing strong remittance inflows, monetary-policy measures and the transition towards a more market-oriented exchange-rate regime.

The central bank has also moved to deepen the foreign-exchange market. In August, it launched live operations of its Foreign Exchange Market (FXM) module, designed to facilitate foreign-exchange intervention and interbank transactions.

Additional measures have since been introduced covering offshore banking units and specialised foreign-currency transactions.

The combination of stronger remittances and higher reserves was improving dollar liquidity in the banking system and easing pressure on banks to source foreign currency for import payments.

Economists stressed, however, that sustaining the improvement would require continued attention to the exchange-rate regime and remittance infrastructure.

“Maintaining a competitive and relatively stable exchange rate, improving formal remittance services and expanding overseas employment markets will be important for sustaining the inflow,” said one leading economist working in Dhaka University.

The latest external-sector figures therefore present a markedly stronger picture than Bangladesh faced a year earlier. The near doubling of the BoP surplus, record remittances and a nearly 20 per cent annual rise in BPM6 reserves have strengthened the country’s external buffer.

Yet the continuing current-account deficit and widening trade gap underline that the improvement remains closely dependent on remittances and financial-account inflows.

For Bangladesh, the immediate challenge is to convert the renewed external stability into stronger investment, productive imports and export capacity�"so that the reserve recovery becomes a foundation for broader economic recovery rather than merely a temporary breathing space.

The momentum remained strong during March-August, when remittances reached $18.94 billion, marking 13.1 per cent growth from $16.74 billion during the same period of 2025.

Central bank officials have attributed the sustained inflows partly to greater confidence among expatriate Bangladeshis in formal banking channels, alongside efforts to make official remittance services more convenient and competitive and curb hundi transactions.

The remittance surge has translated directly into stronger reserve accumulation.

Bangladesh’s gross foreign-exchange reserves stood at $37.35 billion at the end of August 2026, compared with $36.42 billion a month earlier and $31.17 billion in August 2025.

Under the IMF’s BPM6 methodology, reserves stood at $32.44 billion, up from $31.58 billion in July and $26.17 billion a year earlier.
That represents an increase of around $6.19 billion, or nearly 20 per cent, in just one year.

The stronger reserve position is also helping calm the foreign-exchange market. Bangladesh Bank’s transaction-based reference rate stood at Tk123.17 per US dollar on September 23, broadly unchanged from around Tk123.21 at the end of August.