Economy of Dhaka
economy of the region
The economy of Dhaka is the largest in the People's Republic of Bangladesh, contributing ~US$235 billion in nominal gross state product and ~US$890 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms as of 2026. If Dhaka were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the 50th largest economy in the world and fifth largest economy in South Asia, ahead of Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan and behind India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Headquarters of major Bangladeshi financial institutions as Dhaka Stock Exchange, Bangladesh Bank, as well as major companies such as BEXIMCO, Bashundhara Group, PRAN-RFL Group, Dhaka serves as the financial hub of the country. Regional headquarters of many multi-national institutions such as GlaxoSmithKline, HeidelbergCement, Reckitt Benckiser, HSBC, British American Tobacco and Nestlé are also located in Dhaka. Dhaka Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Bangladesh, and third largest in South Asia with a market capitalization of $72.1 billion.
Dhaka is the world's 38th largest city by GDP and has the country's only rapid transit system, the Dhaka Metro Rail.
History
Due to its location right beside some main river routes, Dhaka was an important centre for business. Muslin fabric was produced and traded in this area.
Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci came to Dhaka in 1662–63. According to him, there were only two kuthis (trading posts) – one of the English and the other of the Dutch.
The public source identifies “Economy of Dhaka” as economy of the region. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Economy, Dhaka and economy.
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This entry incorporates text from “Economy of Dhaka” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.