The prevailing row between the planning and finance ministries over fund allocation has delayed finalisation of the revised annual development programme (RADP), thus affecting implementation of development projects, officials said Saturday.
Planning Commission (PC) officials said they could not finalise the RADP for the current financial year (FY) 2013-14 due to non-availability of required funds from the finance ministry.
"We drafted the RADP nearly a month ago. But since the finance ministry is not releasing the funds as sought by other ministries, the RADP finalisation has halted," a senior PC official told the FE,
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) agreed to provide maximum Tk 540 billion for the RADP, 18 per cent down from the current outlay of Tk 658.72 billion in the original ADP.
The PC, on the other hand, had sought at least Tk 605.83 billion for meeting the demand from the ministries concerned that requested for the funds for implementing
ongoing projects under the development programme.
Although the PC had drafted an RADP outlay of Tk 540 billion late last month, it suspended the finalisation work due to the gap between the proposed allocations and the funds sought by the ministries and divisions.
Besides, some ministries had put pressure on the PC for additional fund allocations in the draft RADP.
Based on the fund requirements placed by ministries and divisions, the Commission had requested the MoF to enhance the outlay in the under-preparation RADP which the latter rejected, a PC official said.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal then met the Prime Minister seeking a higher amount of funds from the MoF than the present ceiling of Tk 540 billion.
Mr Kamal said they would try to keep the allocations in the RADP almost at the same level of the original ADP outlay if the ministry could utilise the funds for implementing their development projects.
"If the government wants to achieve more than 7.0 per cent economic growth, a cut in the target of expenditure in the development budget is not justified," the minister said.
PC officials said the government ministries and divisions sought Tk 65.83 billion more than the present ceiling of Tk 540 billion in the revised development budget for the current fiscal to help implement their priority projects.
General Economic Division (GED) member Professor Shamsul Alam said the delay in finalisation of the RADP would hamper implementation of the projects.
Since the political turmoil had already affected the project implementation in the last quarter of the calendar year 2013, revision of the ADP should be done as quickly as possible, he told the FE.
Development analyst Dr Zaid Bakht said low public investments amid lower private investments would affect the expected level of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal.
"I think many fund requests have been made on the political ground. The new lawmakers are putting pressure on some ministries like local government and cooperatives, education and the communications for development work in their constituencies," he told the FE.
Yet, as the quality of project implementation is imperative and the inflationary pressure on the economy and lower revenue income should be considered, allocation for the RADP should be realistic, the development analyst said.
A senior PC official said the RADP was finalised by late February every year in the past. "This time the Commission has failed to finalise the RADP due to the standoff between the planning and finance ministries over fund allocations," he said.
"I am hopeful of finalisation of the RADP by early next month," he added.
