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The interest payment against foreign loans crossed US$ 1.2 billion-mark in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (FY 2024-25) as Bangladesh repaid $ 3.21 billion in outstanding debts, officials said Wednesday.
The government paid $ 1.20 billion in interest and $ 2.01 billion in principal against the total outstanding medium- to long-term loans (MTLs) during the July-March period, Economic Relations Division (ERD) data showed.
The country's foreign debt servicing has been rising year-on-year amid falling aid commitments and disbursements by the development partners (DPs).
According to the ERD, the DPs released loans and grants during the period worth $ 4.808 billion, 14.61 per cent lower than the same period of FY '24. The aid commitment also dropped by 58.50 per cent to $3.0 billion until Q3, FY '25 from $7.24 billion in the same period of last FY.
The bilateral trios - China, India and Russia - are yet to make any commitment during the period under review, the ERD statistics showed.
Meanwhile, lower foreign aid inflow has already affected implementation of dozens of ongoing development projects, project officials said.
However, the multilateral development partners like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the biggest bilateral donor, Japan, have been maintaining their normal economic relations with the interim government of Bangladesh, insiders said.
During the July-March period of this FY, the ADB disbursed $ 1.226 billion in loans and grants, the WB $ 1.07 billion, and Japan $892.26 million.
Although India, China, and Russia had not made any aid commitment during the period, they started disbursing their committed funds.
China released $ 320.74 million, Russia $ 670.28 million, India $ 136.55 million and the AIIB only $68.64 million during the first 3Qs of the current fiscal, the ERD data showed.
The ERD has set a target to receive $10.82 billion worth of loans and assistance during this FY2025.
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