ADP outlay trimmed 4.8pc
The government is going to slash this fiscal year's development budget by 4.8 per cent from the original outlay mainly due to slow implementation of projects funded by foreign assistance.
The revised allocation for fiscal 2019-20's annual development programme (ADP) is now Tk 192,921 crore, which was Tk 202,721 crore in the original budget, according to a draft of the planning ministry.
Already Tk 79,785.86 crore or 37.09 per cent of the original allocation has been spent from July till February.
Besides, the planning ministry will recommend that autonomous bodies and corporations of the state, such as the Chattogram port, spend Tk 8,277.56 crore out of their own pockets for self-development.
This is basically government money and so if the amount is taken into account, the revised development budget will end up becoming Tk 201,198.56 crore.
As per the finance ministry's suggestion, the planning ministry prepared a draft of the revision based on decisions taken on March 10 and will table it at a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday.
Use of foreign assistance in the ADP projects will be trimmed down to Tk 62,000 crore from Tk 71,800 crore. The government portion for the projects will stay the same at Tk 130,921 crore, a planning ministry official said.
Implementing agencies show more interest in spending government allocations rather than foreign assistance for the accountability and transparency conditions attached with the latter, said the official.
The revised development budget will be allocated for 1,743 projects. Of those, 1,597 are over investments, 145 over technical assistance and one over Japan Debt Cancellation Fund, which Japan had earlier provided and now wants to be diverted into other projects.
Besides, the planning ministry will recommend a Tk 2,000-crore special allocation for five development sectors under the local government institutions and Tk 421 crore for three development assistance schemes under the Chattogram hill tracts ministry.
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