Bangladesh, April 14 -- Bangladesh is heading into a period of mounting fiscal pressure as external debt servicing obligations are set to rise sharply over the next five years, exposing structural weaknesses in its narrow revenue base.
According to the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the country will need to repay nearly $26 billion in external debt between the current fiscal year and FY2030.
The scale of the obligation becomes more significant in historical context: in the 54 years since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has paid around $40 billion in debt servicing, yet almost two-thirds of that amount is due within just five years.
The growing repayment burden comes at a time when Bangladesh's tax-to-GDP ratio has fallen below 7 per...