Foreign investment in Bangladesh stock market rises 37.6%

Foreign investor transactions in the Bangladesh capital market have increased by 37.6 percent during the first eight months of 2026 compared to the same period last year. According to data from the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), total foreign transactions reached 37.01 billion BDT from January to August 2026, up from 26.87 billion BDT in the same period of 2025.

This eight-month total already represents approximately 94 percent of the total foreign transaction volume recorded in the entire previous year. Experts attribute this growth to several market reform initiatives, including efforts to upgrade the market status from a frontier market to an emerging market, increased communication with international index providers like MSCI, and the implementation of the T+1 settlement system.

Nuzhat Anwar, Managing Director of the DSE, noted that the increase is the result of collective efforts rather than a single initiative. Key factors include the simplification of Non-Resident Investors' Taka Account (NITA) regulations by Bangladesh Bank, which has reduced the complexity of managing individual transaction accounts for foreign portfolio investors.