Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed Tk 32,731 crore for the Health and Family Welfare sector in the budged for 2021-22 fiscal year.
“Giving an utmost priority to the programmes and steps taken by the government to address the Covid-19 pandemic, I propose to allocate Tk. 32,731 crore for the Health and Family Welfare sector in the next fiscal year, which was Tk. 29,245 crore Taka in FY2020-2021,” the minister said it while unveiling his proposed budget in the Parliament on Thursday.
With the new allocation, the health sector got above seven percent of the total budget for the first time.
It was close to five percent and less than one percent of the GDP during the last seven financial years
has hit the economy, putting the momentum of our economic growth, poverty reduction and other socio-economic development at risk.
The outbreak of novel coronavirus has given an unprecedented shock to the Bangladesh economy as did in most of the countries. Economic activity in the country slowed down due to lockdown imposed by the government to stop the spread of the coronavirus and its debilitating effects were observed in almost all sectors.
“The budget for FY 2021-22 has been prepared keeping consideration of the strategies taken to facilitate the recovery of various sectors of the Bangladesh from Covid-19 pandemic, especially to meet the challenges arising in the health sector and the issue of application of vaccine,” said Kamal while presenting the budget in the parliament”.
Setting out the spending plan for the year ahead, he said in the budget speech, “Allocation has been made in the proposed budget to meet the targets of each ministry and division to address adverse effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He also proposed to allocate Tk 10,000 crore in the next fiscal year to meet the emergency requirement to respond to the pandemic.
GDP Growth
The GDP growth rate was estimated 8.2 per cent in the proposed budget for 2020-21. The GDP growth rate was revised 6.1 per cent for the current fiscal year due to continuation of economic slowdown amid surge in second wave of the pandemic.
However, the government has aimed at pulling out the economy from contraction and set a 7.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for fiscal year 2021-22.
The World Bank forecasts Bangladesh could achieve 3.6 percent growth this year, and if the pace of economic recovery is right, it could increase to 5.1 percent in the next fiscal year and 6.2 percent in the year after.
The International Monetary Fund has said Bangladesh’s growth could be five percent in the current fiscal year and it may increase to 7.5 percent next year.
Inflation
The CPI inflation for the FY 22 has been budgeted 5.3 per cent, down from the budgetary projection of 5.4 per cent in FY 21.
Total Revenue
The government set the target for revenue income in the fiscal year 2021-22 at Tk 3,89,000 crore which is 11.3 per cent of GDP. Out of this, Tk 3,30,000 will be collected through the NBR sources. Tax revenue from non-NBR sources has been estimated at Tk 16,000 crore, while the non-tax revenue is estimated to be Tk 43,000 crore.
Besides, the Finance Minister proposed to allocate Tk 10,000 crore to meet the emergency requirements to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Giving priority to the protection of lives and livelihoods, the government has given 7.4 per cent of the total budget and 1.3 per cent of the GDP in the health sector and thus tackle the pandemic and its fallouts.
Finance Minister said, “To bring healthcare services near the doorsteps of the people at the earliest, government is continuing to recruit doctors, nurses and other health professionals. It is also prioritising installing of emergency equipment and facilities,” Mustafa Kamal said.
He mentioned that the government had recruited a total of 213 new doctors through the 38th BCS within a short period of time for ensuring quick treatment of the Covid-19 infected patients in the country.
The Finance Minister also said that the government has given importance on achieving the goal of universal health care standard in the country by 2030.
To attain the goal, the government has formulated the ‘Strategy for Finance in the Health Sector: 2012-2032’, he said.
The minister also mentioned that of the government’s National Strategic Plan 2016-2021, in this budget speech. Steps have been taken on Autism and Neuro Developmental Disorders in this plan.
The minister has said that huge change has been brought in the medical education sector with various steps taken by the government in modernizing the medical education.
He promised establishing upazila Family Planning Offices, 10 District Offices and 145 Family Planning Stores with a view to ensuring smooth implementation of programmes on family planning, maternal and child health services.
On expanding services at the grassroots level, 89 new 10-beds unit in Maternal and Children Welfare Centers have been constructed at the union level, he said.
Besides, safe delivery services for 24 hours seven days a week have been introduced to ensure safe maternity services in those centers in 2,854 Unions.
To protect the health of newborns and children, the National Newborn Health Programme (NNHP) is being implemented as part of health management.
