Dhaka, March 6 -- The inflow of short-term foreign loans to the private sector continued to decline in January, with more money being sent out for the repayment of existing loans, especially in terms of interest and principal payments.

The Bangladesh Bank released data on Thursday showing that while the private sector received $1.68 billion in foreign loans in January, $2.10 billion had to be paid back in the same period.

This means that $422 million more was paid than the loans received.

The trend of higher repayments compared with the loans received has continued for the past two years.

In 2023, repayments exceeded loan inflows by $6 billion, and in 2024, repayments were $2 billion higher than the loans received.

In 2023, the priva...