The government is going to declare a massive Annual Development Programme (ADP) worth Tk 2.46 lakh crore for the next fiscal (FY) 2022-23 with a special focus on developing the communication sector.
An official of the Planning Commission said, the Finance Division has sent the draft plan of the SDP budget to the Planning Commission for review.
The proposed ADP will be tabled at a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) for final approval, they said, adding that the meeting will be held early next month after the Eid vacation.
This time, the allocation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the upcoming financial year (FY) 2022-23, has increased by about 10 percent against the same period of the previous fiscal, he mentioned.
Of the total allocation, around Tk 1.53 lakh crore (62.21 percent) will be provided from the national treasury and Tk 93,000 crore (37.79 percent) from project assistance.
According to the proposal, 62 ministries and divisions, including transport, power, energy, education, and rural development sectors, requested more allocation than they were given, resulting in a larger budget for the upcoming ADP.
In the current FY 2021-22, the government had planned to spend Tk 2.25 lakh crore for development works but later trimmed the budget by 7.87 percent to Tk 2.07 lakh crore, which is still 5 percent bigger than last year’s revised annual development programme (RADP).
In the current fiscal’s ADP, the government funds Tk1.37 lakh crore on its own, while the remaining Tk 88,024 crore or 39 percent is supposed to come from foreign development partners.
For the next fiscal, foreign partner aid has been cut to 37.77 percent. External sources are expected to provide Tk 93,000 crore in the next fiscal.
Meanwhile, the government implemented 45.56 percent of the project works under the RADP from July to March of the current fiscal year, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) data showed.
Amid a dreary project implementation performance by different ministries, the government cut the project aid (foreign aid) budget by 20 percent in the RADP for the current fiscal year.
The government intends to pursue an expansionary spending policy in the coming years in order to mitigate the losses suffered in recent years as a result of the pandemic’s impact on development projects.