Bangladesh Digital Payments Country Diagnostic (2022 Edition)

Investment in the digital infrastructure of the country has been a priority for the Government of Bangladesh in the past decade, ever since the launch of Digital Bangladesh. The digital infrastructure has enabled the adoption of digital payments, and there is steady growth in the priority sectors.

This country analysis estimates that digital payments can boost Bangladesh’s annual GDP by 1.7 percent. This means adding $6.2 billion (BDT 50,058 crores) annually to the economy. Of this, 53 percent will come from digitizing just 30 percent of micro-merchant transactions in the retail sector; 45 percent from digitizing credit disbursements in the agricultural sector; and the remaining from scaling digital wages in the informal ready-made garments sector. Responsible payments digitization in these sectors, crucially prioritizing women, will help accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The priority areas highlighted in this report concern all players in Bangladesh’s payments ecosystem: the government, regulators, the private sector, financial service providers, and users as well as their social and economic communities.