Bangladesh News

In continuation of last fiscal year’s slow progress, only 13 percent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) has been implemented in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

Though the development expenditure is slow, pace of revenue expenditure is faster due mainly to higher rates of interest payment by the government against both domestic and foreign borrowing.

In the last fiscal year the implementation rate was 11 percent in the first quarter. However, sources say though the implementation this year is 2 percent higher, for the first time the size of ADP was downsized over that of previous year.

The ADP implementation last year was the most sluggish as its rate was from 14 to 15 percent and more.

Sources in the planning ministry say the implementation is usually sluggish in the first half of the year. But as there is no political persuasion or pressure for development work this year, it has become slower.

Apart from some exceptional cases, the government officials this year are in a wait-and-see mood for the elected government to take over.

In the current fiscal year, the size of ADP was Tk 25,600 crore, which is 3.39 percent lower than the last fiscal year’s original ADP. Normally, every year the size of original ADP is 5 percent higher or more than the previous year’s.

According to the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) report from July to October, the implementation was Tk 3,282 crore or 13 percent of Tk 25,600 crore.

Of this, the local component is 13 percent or Tk 1,810 crore and project aid 12 percent or Tk 1,472 crore.

In the last fiscal year the first quarterly implementation was 11 percent or Tk 3,039 crore with 11 percent local component or Tk 1,912 crore and 12 percent project aid or Tk 1,127 crore.

Among the major ministries, Rural Development and Cooperative Division spent 37 percent of its total allocation, the agriculture ministry 16 percent, communications ministry 7 percent, local government division 19 percent, education ministry 20 percent, and health and family welfare ministry 13 percent.

Twenty-four ministries and divisions out of 48 have spent zero to 6 percent of the allocation.

The data of the revenue expenditure was available for two months (July and August). The revenue expenditure was spent Tk 5,683 crore, which is 9.6 percent of its total allocation, according to the Finance Division report.

Until August 2008, a total of 18 percent was spent on interest payment and 11.5 percent on pay and allowances.