Bangladesh Company & Beneficial Ownership Directory

Analysis

What this data actually tells you about Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s economy has cooled from the rapid pre-pandemic pace that made it one of Asia’s fastest-growing markets. GDP growth slowed to 4.2% in FY2024 and to roughly 3.97% in FY2025, well below the 6-7% growth the country posted for most of the 2010s. The ADB projected FY2025 growth of 3.9%, with a rebound to around 5.1% forecast for FY2026, citing weaker domestic demand amid the 2024 political transition, industrial unrest, and persistently high inflation. GDP per capita stood at roughly $2,593 in 2024, with projections in the $2,600-$2,900 range for 2025-2026. Inflation has been a genuine and sustained problem: headline inflation was around 9.7% in FY2024 and was forecast to rise further, to roughly 10.2%, in FY2025, driven by taka depreciation, supply-chain constraints and thin wholesale-market competition. The Bangladeshi taka has faced sustained devaluation pressure over 2023-2025; the FY2025-26 budget assumed an exchange rate in the Tk 120-123/USD range, versus roughly Tk 85/USD before the 2022-23 devaluation cycle began. Structurally, Bangladesh’s economy is dominated by readymade garment (RMG) exports — the country is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China — and by remittances from millions of migrant workers abroad. The BBS Economic Census 2024 (final report released April 2026) counted 11.7 million economic units nationwide, up 49.7% from 7.8 million in 2013, employing 30.6 million people. Counterparties verify a specific counterparty’s current inflation and currency-exposure status directly.

RMG exports reached $38.48 billion in calendar 2024 (6.9% global market share) and $39.35 billion in FY2024-25 (up 8.84% year-on-year), accounting for over 80% of Bangladesh’s total export earnings. The EU is the largest single market, taking 50.3% of RMG exports ($19.37bn in 2024), with the US at $7.2bn (18.7%). The single most consequential dated trade event on the horizon is Bangladesh’s graduation from United Nations Least Developed Country (LDC) status, scheduled for November 24, 2026. Graduation ends Bangladesh’s “Everything But Arms” duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market; the WTO and other assessments estimate potential losses of up to $8 billion in annual export earnings (~14% of total exports) once LDC trade preferences lapse, with RMG (84% of exports) and the EU/UK (nearly 60% of merchandise exports combined) most exposed. Bangladesh is pursuing GSP+ eligibility and bilateral/regional trade agreements to cushion the transition. Net FDI inflows rose 39.36% in calendar 2025 to $1.77 billion, though the increase was driven almost entirely by reinvested earnings and intra-company loans of existing foreign investors rather than new entrants. FDI stock reached $20.06 billion at end-December 2025. Remittances hit a record $32.82 billion in calendar 2025, up more than 8% from $30.32 billion in 2024, a jump partly attributed to migrant workers shifting from informal “hundi” channels to formal banking after the August 2024 political transition. Counterparties verify a specific counterparty’s current LDC-graduation-linked trade-preference exposure directly.

Bangladesh’s population was recorded at 169,828,911 in the 2022 national census, with 2024-2025 estimates ranging from roughly 173.5 to 176.4 million. The RMG sector alone employs an estimated 4+ million workers, the large majority women: the entry-level garment minimum wage was raised from 8,000 to 12,500 taka (~$113) per month in December 2023 after weeks of worker protests (four workers killed, over 600 factories shut in the October-November 2023 unrest). April 24, 2024 marked 11 years since the Rana Plaza collapse (1,138 dead); Amnesty International noted in 2024 that corporate accountability for Rana Plaza and the 2012 Tazreen Fashions fire remains largely unresolved, and independent trade unions remain rare (roughly 83% of factories reportedly have none). Bangladesh’s most significant recent development is political: in July-August 2024, a student-led mass uprising — beginning as protests against a government-job quota system and escalating after a violent state crackdown — culminated on August 5, 2024 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India after 15 years in power; a UN-led investigation found up to 1,400 people may have been killed. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as Chief Adviser of an interim government on August 8, 2024. A general election and constitutional referendum were held on February 12, 2026; the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, won a landslide (209 seats outright, 212 with allies, of 297 declared seats), with Jamaat-e-Islami as the main opposition (68 seats); Hasina’s Awami League was barred from participating; turnout was 59.88%. Counterparties verify a specific counterparty’s current labor-conditions and political-transition-linked exposure directly rather than assume conditions predating August 2024 still apply.