Bangladesh's external debt reached $113.44 billion at the end of 2025, according to the World Bank.
The International Debt Report 2026 of the World Bank Group shows that the country's external liabilities have nearly tripled over the past decade, climbing from $38.77 billion in 2015.
The country's total debt stock comprises $89.51 billion in public and publicly guaranteed debt, $9.87 billion in private nonguaranteed debt and $14.06 billion in short-term debt.
Public and publicly guaranteed debt accounted for the largest portion, with multilateral creditors holding $51.14 billion and bilateral creditors $32.65 billion.
Private creditors accounted for another $5.72 billion of this category.
Among multilateral lenders, the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) accounted for $22.64 billion, followed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with $17.52 billion and other multilateral creditors with $10.99 billion.
Japan was the largest bilateral creditor, with $12.72 billion, followed by Russia at $9.02 billion and other bilateral lenders at $10.90 billion.
The report's debt indicators show that external debt stood at 210% of exports in 2025, up 6.7% from 2015, while the debt-to-GNI ratio rose 5.9% to 24%.
Debt service, however, declined relative to both exports and national income.
Debt service as a share of exports fell 3.1% to 16%, while debt service as a share of GNI dropped 3.8% to 2% over the same period.
The World Bank's regional data cover six countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Their combined external debt increased 6.4% from 2024.
The region's external debt was equivalent to 21% of its gross national income (GNI), while debt service accounted for 10% of exports.
India accounted for the largest share of regional external debt, with $763.52 billion, followed by Bangladesh at $113.44 billion and Sri Lanka at $57.66 billion.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, which the report places under the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan grouping, had an external debt stock of $135.11 billion.
Afghanistan, also classified under the same regional grouping, had an external debt stock of $3.42 billion, up 2.2% from a year earlier. Its reported population was 43.8 million.
Meanwhile, external debt of developing countries jumped 5.5% to a record $9.4 trillion in 2025, the fastest pace since 2021 and about four times the 2022–24 average, according to the World Bank Group’s International Debt Report 2026.
Private financing drove much of the increase. Borrowing from private creditors jumped and bond issuance from public entities rose nearly 35% to $251 billion, the highest level in five years as markets reopened to many developing countries.
External debt grew fastest among the most vulnerable countries, increasing 8.1% to $1.3 trillion in countries eligible for concessional financing from the World Bank Group’s International Development Association (IDA).
“The return of private lending to low- and middle-income countries is welcome, but these countries are borrowing more, paying more, and in many cases leaving less for long-term development,” said Haishan Fu, World Bank Group Chief Statistician and Director of Development Data. “Managing debt responsibly means giving everyone—including future generations—a chance to thrive.”
IDA-eligible countries paid an average of 8.2% on new private-creditor commitments in 2025—the highest rate since 1989—and 9.4% on new bonds. The gap between the rates IDA-eligible countries paid to official and private creditors widened from 3.4 percentage points in 2016 to 5.5 percentage points in 2025.
Debt-service pressures remained severe amid elevated global interest rates. Low- and middle-income countries paid $1.4 trillion in principal and interest in 2025, up 1.9% and marking a fifth consecutive annual increase. Payments to bondholders climbed to $363 billion, partly reflecting debt buybacks and prepayments financed through new bond issues.
Between 2022 through 2025, developing countries paid $436 billion more in debt service than they received in new financing. The direction shifted in 2025, however, as long-term debt flows turned from a $118 billion net outflow in 2024 to a net inflow of $45 billion.
