Government's development-project execution still crosses a bumpy road as the ministries spent only 32 per cent of the ADP outlay in seven months, for reasons that include protracted disruptive political actions, according to sources.
The deceleration of spending of the development budget in the July-January period of this fiscal could not be averted despite several corrective steps, officials said Tuesday.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal claimed that the financial progress of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the first seven months of the current financial year (FY) 2014-15 was 1.0 percentage points higher than the same period last fiscal (FY2014).
However, the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) data revealed that the ADP fund-spending rate by the government agencies in the last FY2014 was one percentage point higher (33 per cent) than that of the current FY2015 (32 per cent).
The government agencies spent 38 per cent of the Tk 550 billion original ADP outlay in FY2013 and 34 per cent of Tk 460 billion allocation in FY2012, the IMED report shows.
After a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Tuesday, Mr Mustafa Kamal at a briefing said the government agencies had spent Tk271.63 billion in the July-January period of the current FY2015 from their total Tk 860-billion outlay (with self-finance of the autonomous bodies) in the ADP.
The planning minister, however, did not give details of the progress report, including the physical progress of the development projects under the current Tk 803.15 billion original ADP.
Meanwhile, the IMED statistics obtained by this reporter show that the government ministries spent Tk 173.48 billion from internal resources while Tk 85.09 billion from the external funds during the Jul-Jan period under the Tk 803.15-billion total outlay.
Among the top 10 development budget-holders, the Local Government Division has spent 42 per cent of its total allocation, the education ministry 40 percent, and the primary and mass education ministry 35 percent from its outlay.
The housing and public works ministry, however, stood lowest in the ratings among the top 10 government agencies with its only 23 per cent development-fund spending during the first seven months of the current FY, according to the IMED report.
Meanwhile, development analysts have criticised the weak performance of the ministries and executing agencies in implementing the projects, saying that the Planning Commission's effort to expedite project execution has "virtually failed to yield any result".
Planning Minister Mr Mustafa Kamal, after all, is hopeful about spending 100 per cent of the ADP money in this fiscal year although the economy is passing through a rough weather due to the impact of the ongoing blockade across the country.
Replying to another question, he said, "The Planning Commission has started work to revise the ADP in which allocations could be trimmed down."
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