Revision of the current fiscal budget takes place two months ahead of usual timing--by January -- as the interim regime decides to complete it before a new government takes office.
Usually, budget is revised by March, before preparing next fiscal budget, finance officials say while citing reasons for the antedated exercise.
However, this time around, since the national elections are scheduled for early February and a transition period may disrupt many activities, the Finance Division officials want to complete the budget remake two months earlier.
In this case, the same finance adviser and the same administration which prepared the budget will complete its revision, before the new finance minister takes over.
"As the procedure for changing the government through an election will begin soon, we wan to complete the budget revision in advance," one finance official told The Financial Express.
Sources have said the Finance Division recently sent a letter to the Planning Commission officials informing them about the decision and asking for preparation for early revision of the budget.
Next month, the ministries and divisions will be asked to send budget-implementation updates, said the finance official.
"We want to hold the next coordination council meeting by mid-November," he told the FE, saying that usually the meeting takes place by the by first or second week of December.
The finance minister chairs the meeting of the committee for coordination on fiscal, monetary, and currency exchange and resource management, which prepares an outline of the next fiscal budget.
Meantime, early this month, the ministry of finance (MoF) asked the ministries and divisions concerned to take "specific" and "time-bound" plan for proper implementation of policy/programme/activities laid down in the current fiscal budget.
Also, the finance ministry has suggested devising ministry-and division-wise budget- implementation plan for maintaining balance between revenue mobilisation and expenditure for proper cash management of the government.
"The plans have to be devised in a way so that expenditures are divided equally on quarterly basis and pileup of bills in last thee months can be avoided," said the ministry in a notification.
It notes that budget implementation sees sluggish pace in the first half of a fiscal year while in the last quarter implementation gets into faster gear. As a result, in many cases, the quality of public expenditure cannot be maintained.
Moreover, the ministry says, the government is forced to take the burden of unplanned loans due to such last-moment spending. "As a result, maintaining fiscal discipline cannot be ensured by the government."
The finance ministry has asked all the ministries and divisions concerned to send it budget-implementation plans within September and also to send budget-implementation- assessment report within one month of each quarter ends.
The post-uprising government has adopted Tk 7.9-trillion national budget-with a slight reduction from the previous fiscal year's budget worth Tk 7.97 trillion set by the deposed government.
The interim government got a bit tight-fisted in stitching up the budget amid challenges such as high inflation and declining foreign investment on the macroeconomic front.
syful-islam@outlook.com
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
