Bangladesh is losing an estimated Tk 838.38 billion annually through trade misinvoicing, highlighting a major drain on public finances and exposing deep vulnerabilities in the country's trade and financial systems.
A new report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) underscores the scale of illicit financial outflows, warning that such practices are undermining revenue mobilisation and weakening the foundations of economic governance.
The amount is equivalent to nearly 23 per cent of the country's domestic revenue mobilisation in the last financial year (FY 2024-25).
The US-based organisation Global Financial Integrity (GFI) revealed the data on trade-based money laundering, ranking Bangladesh among the top 10 countries in Asia affected by such financial outflows.
The GFI report further noted that the average annual outflow of $6.83 billion is equivalent to about 16 per cent of Bangladesh's total foreign trade, with a significant portion attributed to trade mispricing (false declarations).
In the report, published on March 26, 2026, the GFI said US$68.3 billion was laundered from Bangladesh over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2022. This amounts to more than Tk 8.33 trillion over the decade and over $6.83 billion per year.
The report on illicit financial flows from developing Asian countries through trade highlights that money laundering largely occurs through false declarations in import and export activities, commonly known as trade misinvoicing.
The GFI's estimate is nearly half of the amount projected by the white paper committee on the economy formed by the interim government.
In December 2024, the committee reported that around $16 billion had been siphoned off annually from Bangladesh between 2009 and 2015.
Speaking to The Financial Express on Sunday, Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and a member of the committee, said the earlier projection was based on available data, of which 75 per cent, or $12 billion, was attributed to trade-based money laundering.
"We have no data until 2023 as Bangladesh stopped sending data to the GFI after 2015," he added.
He said the GFI may have used updated data sources to arrive at its latest findings.
"We have been suggesting that the government check leakages in export-import activities, strengthen vigilance and intensify intelligence efforts to prevent trade-based money laundering," he said.
"There is no alternative to digitising export-import activities to curb such a huge amount of capital flight," he added.
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