Financial account recorded $2b surplus in H1FY26

Business Report :

Bangladesh’s financial account recorded a surplus of $2.04 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year, driven by higher net foreign direct investment (FDI) and increased trade credit.

According to the Balance of Payments (BOP) data released by the Bangladesh Bank on Monday the surplus during July-December of FY26 marks a sharp improvement from $525 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Earlier in first 5 months of FY26, Bangladesh’s financial account recorded a surplus of $1.23 billion in the first five months of FY26, a significant turnaround from a deficit of $1.01 billion in the same period last year. Between July- November, trade credit stood at a surplus of $595 million during the period, compared to a deficit of $817 million a year earlier, while net aid inflows rose to $504 million from $269 million, marking an increase of more than 87 per cent year-on-year.

At the same time, the country’s current account deficit narrowed to $343 million in the first half of FY26, down from a deficit of $518 million a year earlier, supported mainly by strong remittance inflows of $16.6 billion.

Supported by the strong financial account surplus, Bangladesh’s overall balance of payments recorded a surplus of $1.94 billion in July-December FY26, compared to a deficit of $467 million in the same period last year.
The current account is a key component of the balance of payments (BOP), reflecting a country’s trade in goods and services, income from abroad, and current transfers such as remittances.

Bangladesh Bank data show that the trade deficit widened by 18.34per cent year-on-year to $11.55 billion during July-December FY26, compared to $9.76 billion in the same period last year. Imports rose by 5per cent to $33.67 billion, while exports grew by only 0.9per cent to $22.12 billion.

A senior Bangladesh Bank official said the rise in imports was mainly driven by higher purchases of consumer goods and capital machinery. Imports of consumer goods increased by 10.32per cent, while capital machinery imports jumped by 23.64per cent.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves crossed $29 billion this month for the first time since the central bank began calculating the stock in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) method. Reserves stood at $29.47 billion on Monday, up from $29.23 billion recorded on February 5, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB) which is highest since July 12, 2023.
The central bank data published yesterday also shows gross reserves reached $34.06 billion , the highest since November 2022.