Govt to miss ADP target again

The pace of implementation of development schemes of the government hit a three-year high in May of the outgoing fiscal year with Jatiya Sangsad secretariat topping the list while the Finance Division sits at the bottom.

Public agencies executed development projects involving Tk 142,387 crore in the July-May period of fiscal 2021-22, up 17 per cent year-on-year, according to data from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the planning ministry.

Including May, the overall implementation rate of the annual development programme (ADP) was 65.5 per cent of the total revised allocation of Tk 217,175 crore for the current fiscal.

Despite the spike, the government is once again likely to fail to execute all of its development initiatives by the end of the fiscal year. It would be the 32nd year that government agencies have failed to implement the revised ADP, the implementation of which is measured by expenditure.

The last time the government could spend more than its revised ADP was in fiscal year 1989-90, according to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2022 published by the Finance Division this month.

However, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said the implementation rate might improve this year given how much has been achieved so far.

"Historically, the pace of implementation jumps in June. The trend looks better this year and it appears the rate of fund disbursement has been good because of increased revenue collection," he said.

Citing the ADP's implementation rate in June of the previous fiscal year, Moazzem said even if that rate of execution takes place this time around, an overall 88 per cent of the revised budget would be implemented this year.

"It might be higher than that too," he added.

In terms of implementation, Jatiya Sangsad secretariat topped the list of 58 government divisions and ministries followed by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division, Energy and Mineral Resources Division, and Ministry of Industries.

Although the allocation for Jatiya Sangsad secretariat and Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division was low, implementation rate of the two was 100 per cent and 98 per cent respectively.

The ICT Division could spend 93 per cent of total allocation of Tk 1,305 crore in the 10 months since July last year while the Energy and Mineral Resources Division implemented 99 per cent of its Tk 3,116 crore allocation during the same period.

With a Tk 380 crore allocation under the ADP for the current fiscal year, the Finance Division could spend only 5 per cent of the total in the July-May period of the fiscal year.

The Bangladesh Public Service Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports were the other agencies with very low implementation rates, according to IMED data.