Foreign debt increased to 104 billion dollars
In the last three months from April to June, the foreign debt has increased by about 4.5 billion dollars. And in the last one year, it has increased by about 5.7 billion. At the end of June, Bangladesh’s foreign debt has increased to about 104 billion dollars.
Out of this 104 billion, the debt increased by almost 81 billion dollars during the 15 and a half years of Sheikh Hasina’s government. That is, Sheikh Hasina’s government, which lost power in the student uprising, has borrowed money from foreign sources. During this period, foreign debt increased in all public and private sectors.
The dollar crisis has been going on in the country for a long time as the foreign exchange expenditure is higher than the income. To deal with this crisis, various steps were taken during the outgoing government’s tenure including import control, increase in foreign loans. Analysts say that during the Sheikh Hasina government, most of the foreign loans were taken in a negotiated and indiscriminate manner.
In this regard, the former professor of economics department of Chittagong University. Mainul Islam said, one of the mega projects implemented or being implemented from 2009 to 2023 is Padma Multipurpose Bridge, Dhaka Metrorail, Third Terminal of Dhaka Shahjalal Airport, Dhaka Elevated Expressway, Rooppur Nuclear Power Project, Karnaphuli Tunnel, Matarbari Deep Sea Port. But while doing all this, Bangladesh’s foreign debt has exceeded 100 billion dollars. It is sad that when the implementation of ongoing projects with the money of these loans is completed, only a very small part of the loan installments will be able to be paid from the income of the projects.
Meanwhile, foreign debt increased the most during the five years (2019-2023) of the third consecutive term of the Awami League government. During this period the foreign debt increased by 35.14 billion dollars or about 79 percent. At the end of December 2023, the amount of foreign debt of Bangladesh government has increased to 79.69 billion dollars. In 2019, the foreign debt increased to 5.33 billion dollars during these five years. The increase in 2020 was $8.30 billion, the second highest in the nation’s history. In 2021, it increased to 9.53 billion dollars, which is the highest in the history of Bangladesh. The government’s external debt is $4.48 billion in 2022 and $7.5 billion in 2023, the third highest.
Foreign debt increased by 3.15 billion dollars in the six months of the fourth period. Awami League formed the government for the fourth time in January this year for five years. After six months, Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister on August 5 in the face of mass agitation and fled the country. Before the fall of this government, as of June, foreign debt remained at $103.79 billion.
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