Every child born in Bangladesh today is born with a debt.

The committee tasked with formulating a white paper on Bangladesh’s economy will review the energy sector’s foreign loan agreements and other contracts, said its chair Debapriya Bhattacharya.

When Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2008, Bangladesh’s total debt was just $33.66 billion. When she fled amid an unprecedented student-led uprising on August 5, she left behind a burden of $156 billion in local and foreign loans for the country to carry.

Delays and lack of quality control are a major concern when it comes to development projects.

The amount of foreign loans availed by the private sector in Bangladesh has been swelling fast since 2020, creating a major headache for the country’s economy at a time when its foreign exchange reserves are plummeting.

Bangladesh gravitated towards external borrowing to finance its budget deficit in fiscal 2021-22, leveraging the country’s capacity to absorb more of the relatively economical foreign loans.