A dense South Asian delta state and the world's eighth-largest country by population, anchored by ready-made garments, large remittance inflows, fragile bank balance sheets, and one of the highest climate-exposure footprints among lower-middle-income economies.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a dense South Asian delta state of ≈ 173 million people compressed into ≈ 148,460 km² between India, Myanmar, and the Bay of Bengal. Its economy converts labor abundance into ready-made garments, remittances from workers in the Gulf and Southeast Asia, microfinance-supported small enterprise, and intensive paddy agriculture. The taka floats inside a managed band, Bangladesh Bank holds a tight policy stance, and the banking sector carries elevated nonperforming loans. Growth has slowed from the pre-pandemic trend; FY2025 was 3.7 percent on IMF figures and FY2026 was projected at 3.9 percent by the World Bank. Inflation, the foreign-exchange buffer, energy supply, banking cleanup, and the post-2024 political transition now sit at the center of the macro read.
Delta geography and density. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna confluence covers most of the country and roughly 80 percent of the land sits at or below 10 meters elevation. Density is among the highest in the world for a country of this size, and almost every macro variable — labor markets, food prices, urban housing, port logistics, climate exposure — runs through that compression S9,S4.
Garment-led export model. Ready-made garments accounted for ≈ 84 percent of merchandise exports in FY2024. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter after China and the model has anchored female factory employment, urban migration, and the foreign-exchange cushion since the 1980s S2,S8.
Remittance-supported household income. Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom send back ≈ $22 billion a year, equivalent to 8 to 9 percent of GDP. Remittances stabilize household consumption, finance education, and dampen the trade-deficit drag on the current account S3,S8.
Tight monetary stance with banking-sector stress. Bangladesh Bank holds the policy repo rate at 10.00 percent, the SLF at 11.50 percent, and the SDF at 8.00 percent. Nonperforming loan ratios are elevated in state-owned banks, the taka has been under pressure, and the World Bank flagged thin foreign-exchange buffers as part of the FY2026 macro stress S3,S2,S8.
Climate exposure and disaster-management capacity. Cyclones, riverine floods, salinity intrusion in coastal districts, and sea-level rise sit alongside one of the world's most developed cyclone-shelter and early-warning systems. Climate exposure is a fiscal, food-security, insurance, and migration variable, not a peripheral environmental concern S9,S2.
The IMF reported FY2025 growth at 3.7 percent after slower growth in FY2024 and FY2023, while the World Bank's April 2026 update projected FY2026 growth at 3.9 percent. That is a different setting from the pre-pandemic high-growth picture and reflects investment weakness, banking stress, and tight monetary policy more than a single shock. Inflation is the binding household constraint: the World Bank described high FY2026 inflation, with both food and nonfood components elevated, and wages for low-income workers have not fully kept up with prices, which transmits into garment-factory labor markets, rural-urban migration, and political pressure S1,S2,S7.
Bangladesh Bank's tight policy stance is meant to contain price pressure and stabilize the taka, but monetary policy alone cannot repair banks, lift revenue, secure energy supply, or restore investment confidence. Financial-sector reform and exchange-rate credibility sit alongside the rate path in any honest read S3,S8.
Continue with the data
The indicator chapter is the live snapshot. Start with output and prices, then read remittances and the external balance, then read banking and reserves. Use the indicator topic links to walk down from canonical indicators into the underlying provider series.
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