Dhaka, March 28 -- Bangladesh spent $2.03 billion on external debt servicing, including paying off the principal and interest on foreign debt, in the first eight months of FY24.
Of the total, the interest payments amount to $805.9 million, while the payments towards principal were $1.22 billion.
In the first 8 months of the last FY23, debt servicing stood at $1.42 billion.
It means the amount has gone up by $610 million in the space of a year, or 43% year-on-year.
According to officials at the Economic Relations Division, or ERD, the sharp increase witnessed in debt servicing is driven mainly by increased interest payments on the debt.
The $805.9 million that has gone towards paying the interest on foreign loans is double what the gove...