The unidentified miscellaneous outlay of the budget has soared to its highest level in 2014-15 fiscal year, which, according to many economists, is pointing to lesser transparency.
In the current fiscal year, the share of miscellaneous expenditure stood at 9.9 per cent of total spending or 1.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
It was 9.5 per cent in the just-concluded fiscal year. Even four years back in fiscal year 2009-10, it was just over 3.0 per cent of the total spending.
Sources familiar with such expenditure said this large amount of money nearly Tk 250 billion is mainly used for allocations for members of the parliament (MPs).
"The miscellaneous expenditure has been rising rapidly in recent years and it is a matter of great concern," Ahsan H Mansur, executive director at the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) told the FE.
"It seems to me there is lesser transparency and accountability on this account," he said.
"It has the potential to weaken expenditure control," Dr Mansur noted.
Dr Mansur said heads of expenditure should be identified and the people need to know about it in details.
Dr Zahid Hussain, lead economist at the Dhaka office of the World Bank (WB) said some 959 projects have
been included in the Green Page of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). This means these are unapproved and have no allocation.
"But you can be rest assured that a lot of the projects will find their way into the list of the approved projects or the Whilte Page during the year." He, however, suggested that the gate-keeping function needs to be strengthened.
The projects in the Green Pages don't mean they are automatically part of the ADP, he added.
MA Taslim, professor of Economics at the Dhaka University said the amount is very big. Such type of expenditure should not be kept in the budget provision, he said.
"This means such a big amount of money might be used whimsically," he said.
"We've announced the budget with deficit of 5.0 per cent but we are keeping nearly 10 per cent unaccounted for. Is it justified?" Dr Taslim asked.
He said such type of expenditure is totally 'unacceptable'.
Mustafa K Mujeri, director general at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) said there should be a 'limit' for such type of miscellaneous expenditure.
"This is too high and of course, there should a certain limit," he noted.
Dr. Mujeri said if there is no specific head of expenditure, then there is a possibility of misuse of funds.
"In my view, there might have been some unforeseen projects, but the amount for miscellaneous heads should not be large."
Dr Mujeri said expenditure must have rationale as this is the hard-earned public money.
