Utilisation of Annual Development Programme (ADP) funds by the ministries and divisions has slowed down due to the political impasse, official sources said.
"The ADP implementation rate dipped in the recent months due mainly to ongoing political unrest ahead of the general election. The government could not pay attention to ADP implementation because of its pre-occupation with election related activities," officials said.
Planning ministry officials said that most of the ADP implementing ministries and divisions also failed to spend their allocated funds under the programme at the expected level for what they termed inefficiency and other implementation-related problems.
The ministries and divisions spent only 11 per cent of ADP funds in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY) which is less than 2 per cent compared with the same period of the last FY, according to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
In the first quarter of the FY 2012-13, the implementation rate of ADP was 13 per cent by the government agencies and departments, as per IMED data.
The National Economic Council (NEC) approved a Tk. 658.72 billion ADP for the current FY 2013-14, data released on Thursday showed.
In the first three months of the FY, agencies spent only Tk 69.94 billion, slightly lower than the amount of Tk 70.11 billion spent in the same period of last FY.
The government, during this period, released Tk 108.96 billion of the total allocation.
In July-September of the current FY, implementation rate of the 26 ministries and divisions out of 54 was very poor, the IMED data showed.
Of them, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Anti Corruption Commission did not spend any fund from ADP in the quarter while 12 ministries and agencies utilised ADP funds ranging from 0.12 to 5 per cent of the allocation. Another 12 different government entities' fund expenditure ranged from 5 t0 9 per cent, the IMED statistics revealed.
The ADP implementation rate by the Ministry of Science and Technology is the highest among all the ministries which has spent 27 per cent of its allocation in the first three months, the second highest among the biggest ministries and divisions in the first quarter of the FY.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs implemented of 24 per cent in the quarter, the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs 22 per cent, the Local Government Division (including block allocation) 21 per cent, the Law and Justice Division 21 per cent, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief 21 per cent, the Finance Division 18 per cent, the Ministry of Youth and Sports 17 per cent, IMED data showed.
The Rural Development and Co-operative Division utilised 17 per cent, the Supreme Court 17 per cent, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education 16 per cent, the Ministry of Railway 16 per cent, the Ministry of Education 16 per cent and the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock 15 per cent, according to IMED data.
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