Bangladesh received just $294.5 million in foreign loans in July-August, while paying nearly $700 million in principal and interest on earlier loans.
The debt servicing bill was 237 percent higher than fresh loan disbursements during the first two months of the current fiscal year, according to the latest data from the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
Foreign loan disbursement also fell sharply from a year earlier. Development partners had released $750 million in July-August of the previous fiscal year, more than twice the amount received this year.
The entire $294.5 million received this year was project financing.
The Asian Development Bank was the largest lender, disbursing $128.7 million. The World Bank provided $73.9 million, while Japan released nearly $40 million.
Against the fresh inflow, Bangladesh paid $698.9 million in external debt servicing during the period.
Of this, $516 million went towards principal repayment and more than $182.8 million towards interest.
The debt servicing bill was also higher than the amount paid in the same period a year earlier, when Bangladesh repaid about $670 million in principal and interest.
Meanwhile, new foreign loan commitments remained unchanged at $240 million in July-August from the corresponding period last year.
The figures indicate a widening gap between new foreign financing and debt repayments, with Bangladesh paying out more than twice the amount it received in fresh loans during the first two months of FY27.