Bangladesh budget 2026-27: Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has tabled Bangladesh’s largest-ever budget of Tk 9.38 lakh crore for fiscal year 2026-27, the first presented by the BNP government in two decades, as Dhaka navigates high inflation, a strained revenue base, and mounting external economic headwinds.
Bangladesh’s Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday, June 11, 2026, tabled a record Bangladesh budget 2026-27 of Tk 9.38 lakh crore (approximately USD 77 billion) before the Jatiya Sangsad in Dhaka, setting a 6.5 percent GDP growth target as the BNP-led government unveiled its first fiscal plan since returning to power in February.
Bangladesh Budget 2026-27 – A Record Outlay in a Defining Year
The proposed budget, estimated at Tk 9.38 lakh crore, is set to be the largest in Bangladesh’s history. It is also the country’s 55th national budget and the first budget of the current government. The budget represents a 19 percent increase over this year’s revised outlay.
The Cabinet approved the proposed national budget at a special meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair. The budget’s theme is “Economic Democratisation and Decentralisation, Bangladesh in the Trillion-Dollar Economic March.” The government’s stated ambition is to transform Bangladesh into a trillion-dollar economy by 2034.
Revenue Target, Deficit, and Borrowing
To finance the new budget, Khosru proposed raising Tk 6.95 lakh crore in revenue, 23 percent higher than the original target for the outgoing fiscal year. Of that amount, the NBR has been tasked with collecting Tk 6.04 lakh crore.
The budget deficit is projected at 3.6 percent of gross domestic product for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The overall deficit between expenditure and revenue stands at Tk 2.43 lakh crore. To meet this deficit, Finance Minister Khosru plans to borrow Tk 1.55 lakh crore from abroad, equivalent to 2.28 percent of GDP, meaning the government hopes to finance 63.79 percent of the total deficit through foreign borrowing.
A major portion of resource allocation will be consumed by debt servicing obligations. The government has earmarked Tk 1.27 lakh crore solely for interest payments on loans, of which Tk 1.05 lakh crore will go towards servicing domestic debt, while foreign loan interest payments will require Tk 22,500 crore.
The government aims to spend Tk 3.16 lakh crore on development programs next year, 29 percent more than the original allocation for the outgoing fiscal year.
The 6.5% Growth Target and the 3R Strategy
Finance Minister Khosru said the budget has been framed around 10 priorities, with the aim of accelerating economic growth to 6.5 percent and bringing inflation down to 7.5 percent after prolonged price pressures eroded the living standards of much of the population.
The government has outlined a 3R strategy to revive the economy. The 3R strategy comprises Recovery and Stabilisation, Restoration, and Reconstruction for Acceleration. The government plans to implement it in three phases over a period of one to five years.
The growth ambitions are set against a base that remains modest. The economy grew 4.14 percent in FY2025-26, up from 3.49 percent a year earlier, with provisional data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics showing that the gross domestic product stood at USD 501 billion this year, up from USD 456 billion a year ago — a milestone that marks the first time Bangladesh’s economy has crossed the half-trillion-dollar mark.
Acute Economic Headwinds
The budget arrives under considerable fiscal and external strain. The National Board of Revenue fell more than Tk 1 trillion short of its target by April. Non-performing loans in the banking sector stood at 30.60 percent as of December 2025.
The BNP government had to grapple with a major supply disruption as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks, pushing crude prices past USD 114 a barrel. Bangladesh, which imports 95 percent of its oil and liquefied natural gas, had never planned for such a contingency. Finance Minister Khosru estimates the conflict adds almost USD 3 billion to Bangladesh’s energy import bill between March and June.
Inflation has remained above 8 percent since March 2023, eroding real incomes and weakening purchasing power. The budget’s inflation reduction target of 7.5 percent would, if achieved, mark the first time in four years that the rate has fallen into that range.
The IMF Question
In January 2023, Bangladesh secured an IMF loan package, later expanded to USD 5.5 billion, to address a widening balance of payments deficit, a sliding taka, and declining foreign exchange reserves. While five tranches have been disbursed, the IMF withheld the sixth in December 2025, stating it wanted to wait for an elected government. Despite the BNP’s election victory in February, the money has yet to arrive. The delay stems from unmet conditions, including raising revenue collection as a share of GDP. The government has asked for a new IMF programme, with an IMF mission expected in Dhaka next month to negotiate terms.
Consumer Price Implications
The FY27 budget is likely to reduce prices for kidney dialysis equipment, heart stents, cancer medicines, laptops, solar panels, electric vehicles up to USD 50,000, baby food, all types of spices, and fertilisers, among other items. Prices are expected to rise for cigarettes and tobacco products, certain categories of imported goods, and passenger vehicles with engine capacities between 1,200 and 1,600 cubic centimetres.
Background
For the first time in 20 years, it is the BNP’s number to announce and the BNP’s deficit to explain. Nineteen years ago, BNP Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman placed a national budget of Tk 69,740 crore for fiscal year 2006-07. The FY27 outlay is, in nominal terms, roughly 13 times larger. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, exiled in London for 17 years, who had watched the economy from a distance, now sits at the centre of it.
What’s Next
Parliament must still formally pass the Bangladesh budget 2026-27, with the new fiscal year scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 1, 2026. The anticipated IMF mission to Dhaka next month will be critical, given that foreign borrowing accounts for the majority of the government’s deficit-financing strategy. Whether the 6.5 percent growth target and the ambitious revenue projections can be realized will depend substantially on the resolution of the ongoing energy cost shock, the pace of banking sector reform, and the scale of external support that the BNP government is ultimately able to secure for Bangladesh’s budget 2026-27.
Published in SouthAsianDesk, June 12, 2026
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