Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
A budget is a financial plan for a defined period of time, usually a year. It may also include planned sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets, liabilities and cash flows. Companies, governments, families and other organizations use it to express strategic plans of activities or events in measurable terms. A budget is the sum of money allocated for a particular purpose and the summary of intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them. It may include a budget surplus, providing money for use at a future time, or a deficit in which expenses exceed income. Development intervention through public policy is now a favorite of intellectual discussion as it very much concerns about institutional governance with the participation of the stakeholders to fulfill its desired objectives. Beneficiaries of public policy look to governing institutions both public and private for better service for ameliorating their socio-economic conditions. In the process of governance the government has to interact with civil societies and NGOs. In fact NGOs have long been handling their projects flowing from policy direction by structured flexibility approach. Self-assessment mechanism, regular monitoring and intermittent change of techniques, if situation demands. This is really efficient and apt managent of implementation. So to say Policy formulation reflection armchair framework can be done by brainstorming. Usually thin tanks involve in the thinking process. Bur policy implementation is a tremendous task. National budget announced by the finance ministration is prepared amidst the intellectual intervention and bureaucratic manipulation. Implementation of budget as a part of public policy, especially mega deficit budget like 2018-2019 budget is a daunting challenge for the government. There may be a long list of priorities difficult to address.
National budget for FY2018-2019 is being prepared in the backdrop of the global economy transmitting mixed signals and the domestic economy experiencing emerging tensions with accentuated traditional ones The upcoming budget will need to address these attendant concerns throughq renewed efforts at raising the quality of budgetary and fiscal planning at a time of election-related uncertainties. Consequently, a key objective of the forthcoming budget should be maintainingq macroeconomic stability
This budget is the biggest one, a mega deficit one. . ”The Tk 4.64 trillion budget, which is 25 per cent larger than that of the revised budget for the last FY, will once again test the ability of the government in budget implementation.’ The government must be circumspect and be as good as its stated promises. Fulfilling expectations through this robust scheme of implementation is a stupendous problem. “Budget financing will be very difficult in the next fiscal year. Realisation of aid disbursement target will be too tough for funding the budget. Financing from the non-banking sources, which is targeted at 1.0 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the proposed budget, will also be difficult for the government. Analysts say certain things need to be prioritised for proper implementation of the budget. These include policy reforms, simplification of taxation system, business-friendly policies, policy continuation, and ease of doing business.’ According to expert critics:
Although there are huge allocations for the mega projects, the budget has no direction for avoiding time and cost overrun of the projects or for ensuring their quality. It has been seen that the budget implementation rate has been decreasing year by year. Nothing has been said in the budget about how to increase the rate.
The proposed budget should have given an increased focus on the sectors like education and health. The country is currently going through a demographic dividend era. The key thing for reaping the benefit of this dividend would be to increase the quality of education. A substantial increase in education and health sectors is necessary for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Emphasis should have been given on attracting the private sector investment. Increasing capacity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), implementation of the VAT law, and identifying areas for expanding the tax net is critical for attaining the government’s increased revenue target.
There is, in fact, no alternative to raising the level of private investment if the country wants to confirm the status of a developing country by 2021. The government needs to take necessary measures to ensure efficient and effective spending of the ADP funds. This will help improve the quality of people’s lives and create better employment opportunities for them.
The proposed budget has no reflection on the ’employment-led growth’, a model which was officially adopted in the national planning. The shrinking number of new jobs is, in fact, a major a concern despite rising trend in GDP growth.
The proposed budget should have specific provisions for employment generation, skill development and up-skilling of women in the workforce
For proper implementation of the budget simplification of taxation system, business-friendly policies, policy continuation, and smart ways of doing business must be kept in mind. Think of rising inflation rate in the new fiscal year and take measures to contain it. Poor infrastructure and paucity of power and energy are the main impediments to the process of implementation. “Allocated resources and their timely completion be ensured. The benefits of these measures will only be effective if they are implemented in a timely and effective manner.’
This dream budget, if implanted the whole gamut of things will be changed in a positive direction. Expert economists opined: A key reason behind the declining budget implementation rate is poor execution of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). In this fiscal year, the size of ADP is 38 percent of the original budget. “Delays in procurement and fund release, procrastination of work by private contractors, weak project management capacity of the line ministries, and a proliferation of new projects in the ADP year after year are factors that underpin the inability to spend.” For example, 1,710 projects were included in the current ADP. Of those, progress in 120 was zero in terms of financing, according to a planning ministry report on ADP implementation. It said major reasons for poor ADP implementation are inclusion of projects without feasibility study and inadequate capacity of agencies and ministries to implement and monitor projects. ADP implementation is also hampered due to appointment of inexperienced project directors, lack of coordination among related agencies and delay in land acquisition and approval from development partners for tender evaluation, it added. Ambitious targets for foreign borrowing and revenue collection are also responsible for the failure to fully implement the original budget. In case of foreign-funded projects, many schemes are included in the ADP even before loans are made available by financiers. Based on promises from the Chinese authorities, some Tk 7,000 crore was allocated in the ADP for the Padma rail link project in the current fiscal year.
Implementation of mega project s including Pama and express raiway needs proper of projection Public -Private Partnership (PPP). PPP is a cooperative arrangement between two or more public and private sectors, typically of a long-term nature. PPPs can be understood of both as a governance mechanism and a language game. Infrastructure PPPs as a phenomenon can be understood at five different levels: as a particular project or activity, as a form of project delivery, as a statement of government policy, as a tool of government, or as a wider cultural phenomenon.[7]Different disciplines commonly emphasize different aspects of the PPP phenomena, as a form of project deliveryas a statement of government policy, as a tool of government, or as a wider cultural phenomenon. Different disciplines commonly emphasize different aspects of the PPP phenomena. So use PPP mechanism alongside with conventional ADP to combat implementation challenges. This will reduce the state of gap between expectation and fulfillment.
A budget is a financial plan for a defined period of time, usually a year. It may also include planned sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets, liabilities and cash flows. Companies, governments, families and other organizations use it to express strategic plans of activities or events in measurable terms. A budget is the sum of money allocated for a particular purpose and the summary of intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them. It may include a budget surplus, providing money for use at a future time, or a deficit in which expenses exceed income. Development intervention through public policy is now a favorite of intellectual discussion as it very much concerns about institutional governance with the participation of the stakeholders to fulfill its desired objectives. Beneficiaries of public policy look to governing institutions both public and private for better service for ameliorating their socio-economic conditions. In the process of governance the government has to interact with civil societies and NGOs. In fact NGOs have long been handling their projects flowing from policy direction by structured flexibility approach. Self-assessment mechanism, regular monitoring and intermittent change of techniques, if situation demands. This is really efficient and apt managent of implementation. So to say Policy formulation reflection armchair framework can be done by brainstorming. Usually thin tanks involve in the thinking process. Bur policy implementation is a tremendous task. National budget announced by the finance ministration is prepared amidst the intellectual intervention and bureaucratic manipulation. Implementation of budget as a part of public policy, especially mega deficit budget like 2018-2019 budget is a daunting challenge for the government. There may be a long list of priorities difficult to address.
National budget for FY2018-2019 is being prepared in the backdrop of the global economy transmitting mixed signals and the domestic economy experiencing emerging tensions with accentuated traditional ones The upcoming budget will need to address these attendant concerns throughq renewed efforts at raising the quality of budgetary and fiscal planning at a time of election-related uncertainties. Consequently, a key objective of the forthcoming budget should be maintainingq macroeconomic stability
This budget is the biggest one, a mega deficit one. . ”The Tk 4.64 trillion budget, which is 25 per cent larger than that of the revised budget for the last FY, will once again test the ability of the government in budget implementation.’ The government must be circumspect and be as good as its stated promises. Fulfilling expectations through this robust scheme of implementation is a stupendous problem. “Budget financing will be very difficult in the next fiscal year. Realisation of aid disbursement target will be too tough for funding the budget. Financing from the non-banking sources, which is targeted at 1.0 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the proposed budget, will also be difficult for the government. Analysts say certain things need to be prioritised for proper implementation of the budget. These include policy reforms, simplification of taxation system, business-friendly policies, policy continuation, and ease of doing business.’ According to expert critics:
Although there are huge allocations for the mega projects, the budget has no direction for avoiding time and cost overrun of the projects or for ensuring their quality. It has been seen that the budget implementation rate has been decreasing year by year. Nothing has been said in the budget about how to increase the rate.
The proposed budget should have given an increased focus on the sectors like education and health. The country is currently going through a demographic dividend era. The key thing for reaping the benefit of this dividend would be to increase the quality of education. A substantial increase in education and health sectors is necessary for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Emphasis should have been given on attracting the private sector investment. Increasing capacity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), implementation of the VAT law, and identifying areas for expanding the tax net is critical for attaining the government’s increased revenue target.
There is, in fact, no alternative to raising the level of private investment if the country wants to confirm the status of a developing country by 2021. The government needs to take necessary measures to ensure efficient and effective spending of the ADP funds. This will help improve the quality of people’s lives and create better employment opportunities for them.
The proposed budget has no reflection on the ’employment-led growth’, a model which was officially adopted in the national planning. The shrinking number of new jobs is, in fact, a major a concern despite rising trend in GDP growth.
The proposed budget should have specific provisions for employment generation, skill development and up-skilling of women in the workforce
For proper implementation of the budget simplification of taxation system, business-friendly policies, policy continuation, and smart ways of doing business must be kept in mind. Think of rising inflation rate in the new fiscal year and take measures to contain it. Poor infrastructure and paucity of power and energy are the main impediments to the process of implementation. “Allocated resources and their timely completion be ensured. The benefits of these measures will only be effective if they are implemented in a timely and effective manner.’
This dream budget, if implanted the whole gamut of things will be changed in a positive direction. Expert economists opined: A key reason behind the declining budget implementation rate is poor execution of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). In this fiscal year, the size of ADP is 38 percent of the original budget. “Delays in procurement and fund release, procrastination of work by private contractors, weak project management capacity of the line ministries, and a proliferation of new projects in the ADP year after year are factors that underpin the inability to spend.” For example, 1,710 projects were included in the current ADP. Of those, progress in 120 was zero in terms of financing, according to a planning ministry report on ADP implementation. It said major reasons for poor ADP implementation are inclusion of projects without feasibility study and inadequate capacity of agencies and ministries to implement and monitor projects. ADP implementation is also hampered due to appointment of inexperienced project directors, lack of coordination among related agencies and delay in land acquisition and approval from development partners for tender evaluation, it added. Ambitious targets for foreign borrowing and revenue collection are also responsible for the failure to fully implement the original budget. In case of foreign-funded projects, many schemes are included in the ADP even before loans are made available by financiers. Based on promises from the Chinese authorities, some Tk 7,000 crore was allocated in the ADP for the Padma rail link project in the current fiscal year.
Implementation of mega project s including Pama and express raiway needs proper of projection Public -Private Partnership (PPP). PPP is a cooperative arrangement between two or more public and private sectors, typically of a long-term nature. PPPs can be understood of both as a governance mechanism and a language game. Infrastructure PPPs as a phenomenon can be understood at five different levels: as a particular project or activity, as a form of project delivery, as a statement of government policy, as a tool of government, or as a wider cultural phenomenon.[7]Different disciplines commonly emphasize different aspects of the PPP phenomena, as a form of project deliveryas a statement of government policy, as a tool of government, or as a wider cultural phenomenon. Different disciplines commonly emphasize different aspects of the PPP phenomena. So use PPP mechanism alongside with conventional ADP to combat implementation challenges. This will reduce the state of gap between expectation and fulfillment.
(Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-VC, BUP and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Retired Professor, Chittagong University).
