Written by The Banking Post
Foreign grants received by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bangladesh climbed to a seven-year high of $838.25 million in fiscal year 2025–26, reflecting growing donor preference for NGO-led development programmes.
The amount was 5.46 percent higher than the previous fiscal year, according to data from the NGO Affairs Bureau.
Fresh grant commitments to NGOs surged 44.62 percent year-on-year to a record $1.15 billion, marking the highest annual commitment since the bureau began maintaining records.
The latest disbursement was the highest since FY2018–19, when NGOs received $955.35 million in foreign grants.
In contrast, foreign grants channelled through government development projects continued to weaken. During the first 11 months of FY2025–26, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) secured new grant commitments worth $158.78 million, down 58.32 percent from $380.98 million in the same period a year earlier.
Grant disbursements for government-implemented projects rose 14.31 percent year-on-year to $433.81 million during the July–May period. Even so, the amount remained well below the $838.25 million received by NGOs over the fiscal year.
The figures highlight a long-term shift in development financing, with foreign donors increasingly routing grants through NGOs instead of government agencies.
Government-led projects received nearly twice as much foreign grant funding as NGOs during the early 2000s and remained the dominant channel until FY2013. From FY2014 onward, however, NGOs emerged as the primary recipients of foreign grants.
The gap widened significantly in FY2018–19 and FY2019–20, when NGO grant receipts exceeded those of government projects by more than threefold. Although government projects briefly regained the lead in FY2023–24 and FY2024–25, the trend reversed in FY2025–26 as NGO funding once again outpaced government grant inflows.
