Bangladesh's PM Presses Xi to Narrow Trade Gap
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- Tarique Rahman met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, his first trip to China since becoming PM in February, and urged Beijing to reduce Bangladesh's trade deficit and help implement major projects.
- Rahman specifically asked China to import Bangladeshi fresh mangoes, jackfruit, guava, aquatic products, raw leather, jute products and pharmaceuticals.
- Rahman met Premier Li Qiang on Thursday and the two sides signed multiple cooperation agreements, according to Chinese state media.
- Bangladesh owes China $6.2 billion in debt, with another $2.3 billion lent by the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, compared with just $1.6 billion lent by India, per World Bank data cited in the report.
- Chinese firms have invested a further $7.7 billion in Bangladesh, roughly half of it in the energy sector, according to the American Enterprise Institute.
- Xi told Rahman that China is willing to import more high-quality Bangladeshi goods, encourage Chinese investment, and expand cooperation in new energy, the digital economy and AI.
- Economist Intelligence Unit analyst Chim Lee said China has grown more cautious about financing because it now prioritises logistics corridors, and Bangladesh 'just doesn't provide the same kind of corridor' as Central Asia or Myanmar.
Why it matters: Bangladesh's $6.2 billion debt to China is nearly four times what India has lent it, anchoring Dhaka's financial dependence on Beijing even as the new PM courts New Delhi. But China is increasingly channelling BRI financing toward strategic logistics corridors rather than broad-based lending, meaning Bangladesh may find it harder to extract major-project support from its biggest creditor — just as Rahman tries to balance ties between the two Asian powers.
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