Business Desk :
Around 36 per cent of the current fiscal year’s development budget could be spent by the government in the first eight months. The government managed to spend Tk 84,765 crore from its annual development programme (ADP) budget in the period from July to February. It was Tk 72,603 crore in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Planning Ministry.
According to the IMED report, the ADP implementation rate is 2 per cent higher compared to that last fiscal year. Although the implementation marked a slight rise, it is still below the pre-pandemic level. In the first eight months of fiscal year 2019-20, the period before the pandemic, the ministries and divisions were able to spend 37.26 per cent of the development budget.
Some 35.54 per cent of project assistance could be spent in the July-February period, compared to 34.71 per cent last fiscal year. In spite of the ongoing health crisis, the performance of the health services division was below average as it could spend Tk 2,674.29 crore from July to February, which accounted for only 20.57 per cent of its Tk 13,000 crore allocation.
The statistic and information management division showed the worst performance, spending only Tk 45.61 crore of its Tk 1,421.23 crore allocation, meaning only 3.21 per cent. Among the 15 ministries and divisions which received the highest allocations, local government division achieved 43 per cent, power division 37.60 per cent and road transport and highways division 38 per cent. Moreover, science and technology division attained 38.37 per cent and railway ministry 38.99 per cent.
