B Mirror Report: Bangladesh is losing an estimated Tk 838.38 billion annually due to trade misinvoicing, reflecting a significant drain on public finances and exposing deep-rooted weaknesses in the country’s trade and financial systems.

A recent report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has highlighted the scale of illicit financial outflows, warning that such practices are undermining revenue mobilisation and weakening the foundations of economic governance. The estimated loss is equivalent to nearly 23 percent of the country’s domestic revenue collection in the last fiscal year (FY 2024-25).

The US-based organisation ranked Bangladesh among the top 10 countries in Asia affected by trade-based money laundering. According to the report, the average annual outflow of $6.83 billion represents about 16 percent of the country’s total foreign trade, with a significant portion attributed to trade mispricing through false declarations in import and export transactions.

In its report published on March 26, 2026, GFI said that a total of $68.3 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2022—equivalent to more than Tk 8.33 trillion, or over $6.83 billion per year.

The report noted that illicit financial flows from developing Asian countries largely occur through manipulated trade declarations, commonly known as trade misinvoicing.

The GFI 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 Media, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and a member of the committee, said the earlier estimate was based on available data, of which about 75 percent, or $12 billion, was linked to trade-based money laundering.

“We have no data until 2023 as Bangladesh stopped sending data to GFI after 2015,” he said, adding that GFI may have used updated alternative data sources for its latest findings.

He stressed the need to check leakages in export-import activities, strengthen monitoring, and intensify intelligence efforts to curb such illicit financial flows.

“There is no alternative to digitising export-import processes to prevent such a huge amount of capital flight,” he added.