Published: 11:12 AM, 24 August 2026
Fuel import costs surge 107% in one year
Driven by rising international fuel prices and increased demand, Bangladesh spent nearly $10.64 billion on petroleum product imports in the last fiscal year.
In the previous fiscal year, 2024-25, import expenditure in this sector was less than $5.14 billion. As a result, fuel import costs increased by nearly $5.5 billion, or 107 percent, in just one year.
According to the latest data from Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh’s total import expenditure stood at $75.24 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, up from $68.35 billion in the previous fiscal year. This means overall import expenditure increased by $6.89 billion, or 10.7 percent, year-on-year. Petroleum product imports played the largest role in this increase.
The data show that Bangladesh spent $9.44 billion on refined fuel imports last fiscal year, compared with $4.51 billion the previous year-an increase of more than 109 percent.
Meanwhile, expenditure on crude oil imports stood at $1.20 billion, around 92 percent higher than the $620 million spent in the previous fiscal year. Overall, fuel import expenditure reached an all-time high last fiscal year.
Previously, the highest fuel import bill was recorded in fiscal year 2021-22, when Bangladesh spent $7.99 billion, amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. The figure fell to $5.77 billion the following fiscal year before rising again to $6.13 billion in 2023-24.
People concerned with the sector said that growing instability in the Middle East, centered around Iran since February, has put significant pressure on international fuel prices. This has also affected Bangladesh’s import costs. In June alone, Bangladesh spent $1.6033 billion on fuel imports, whereas the average monthly expenditure throughout the fiscal year was $886.2 million.
As of last Monday, Bangladesh’s gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $37.24 billion. Reserves calculated under the International Monetary Fund’s BPM6 methodology stood at $32.44 billion. At the time of the fall of the Awami League government, reserves had declined to $20.48 billion. Earlier, in August 2021, the country’s reserves had exceeded $48 billion.
