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Bangladesh’s overall balance of payments (BoP) turns positive after three financial years, giving an early sign of much-needed economic rebound especially on external fronts.

Officials and economists hail record remittance and steady growth in export receipts and significant fall in imports amid economic slowdown for the turnaround of the country’s overall balance.

After ending the FY’25, the country’s overall balance of payments recorded around $3.40 billion surplus from a deficit of $4.30 billion recorded a year ago, according to July-June in FY’25 balance of payment (BoP) released by Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday.

Last time, the economy of $460 billion saw surplus in overall balance of $9.27 billion during the covid-19 pandemic time in FY’21. Afterwards, the country’s overall balance went through a negative territory for the next three consecutive years – ($6.65billion in FY’22, $8.22billion in FY’23 and $4.30billion in FY’24).

The major driving force in significantly improving the BoP in FY’25 was remittance that grew around 27 per cent to reach $30.33 billion from previous year’s count of $23.91 billion.

On the other hand, the steady growth in exports was also observed in just passed fiscal year with the nation of over 170 billion population bagged export receipts amounting to $43.96 billion, up by 7.70 per cent from last fiscal’s amount of $40.81 billion.

In terms of import, according to the official data, the country imported goods worth $64.35 billion in FY’25, which was 1.80 per cent higher from previous fiscal’s import figure of $63.24 billion.

However, the surplus in financial account reduced slightly to $3.98 billion from $4.49 billion recorded in FY’24.

When contacted, BB executive director (Grade-1) Dr Md. Ezazul Islam said with the surplus in overall balance, all three accounts – current account, financial account and overall balance, turned into a positive territory after three years, which is a good sign for the economy.

In fact, the central banker said, the overall balance of payment was a concerning part in recent years but it turns positive of $3.39 billion in the just concluded FY’25 from a deficit of $4.30 billion recorded in FY’24.

“So, it’s a gain of over $7.0 billion in just a year. The record inflow of remittance, steady growth in export earnings and budget supporting assistance from multinational donor agencies like IMF help achieve the turnaround in BoP,’ he said.

Dr. Islam, who leads monetary policy department of the central bank, said the regulator tightened the monetary policy stance in recent months, which supports stability in forex (foreign exchange) market and stop foreign currency bleeding from the reserve.

Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Professor A.K. Enamul Haque said the significant improvement in BoP is a sign that the interim government has been able to stop money laundering from the economy.

“It also gives a sign of economic rebound especially on external fronts and I do firm believe that investors will feel encouraged to invest here seeing the improvement,” the country’s noted economist said.