The government is not entertaining any proposal for raising expenditures of ongoing development projects rather asking the implementing agencies to spend from their own funds, if necessary, officials say.
Now walking a tightrope to weather financial crunch stemming from a global syndrome, the ministry of finance is learnt to have regretted in the past few weeks good many proposals regarding extension of government portion of project costs, amid the ongoing economic crises.
The economic woes are particularly accentuated by strains on the country's foreign-currency coffers of late.
The official sources have said the finance ministry disregarded any proposal regarding raising project costs whenever there is involvement of foreign currencies.
Meanwhile, the government has taken various austerity measures to minimise spending as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war-hot on the heels of pandemic disruptions--has caused a global economic crisis which also weakened Bangladesh's economic strengths.
To mitigate the pressure on the coffers, the government also suspended implementation of several hundred projects, trimmed down the allocations for many while only kept intact the disbursement of funds for important megaprojects.
"Whenever money is sought under the move to revise any development- project proposal of ongoing projects, the finance ministry is declining the plea," says an official of the ministry, seeking anonymity.
He notes that government's effort to lower foreign-currency spending apparently shows that expenses are being reduced since import decreased to some extent.
But the foreign-exchange reserves have yet to come to a stable level, rather constantly declining. So the government is still worried as to how to manage the situation.
To manage the present economic situation, the finance official mentions, the government is negotiating with different bilateral and multilateral development partners for support to replenish the forex reserves.
"The government seems to be ready to accept any reform proposals, if not very harsh, to get forex support at this stage," he says.
As such, he adds, the government is now not accepting any plea to raise project costs under any revised development-project proposals where it will have to provide funds from own exchequer.
Presently, Bangladesh's forex reserves are standing slightly higher than US$37 billion--in a rollover from $48 billion in August last year.
"We have to spend cautiously at this crisis moment," another finance ministry official has said, adding that government departments have been asked to strictly go by the directives given under the austerity measures taken for lowering spending from the public exchequer.
syful-islam@outlook.com