To meet the Covid-19-related emergency expenditure, the proposed budget has earmarked a block allocation of Tk 50 billion.
In the previous two fiscal years, including the outgoing one, the size of the block allocation was Tk 100 billion when the coronavirus-related health shocks were quite high.
Presenting the new national budget in parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that in the last two fiscal years, a sufficient budget has been allocated to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement the important activities to combat COVID-19 and for the development of the health sector.
To meet any emergency expenditure, he said that although the infection rate of the viral disease has reduced drastically, the fear of its reappearance still persists as its outbreak is still evident in many countries.
"Bearing in mind the COVID-19 related health hazards, we are also proposing a block allocation of Tk 50 billion for the coming fiscal year," he said.
The finance minister said some of the projects taken in the last fiscal year to combat COVID-19 will continue in the upcoming FY.
He said the Prime Minister has given the directives to establish a high-quality institute in the country for manufacturing all types of vaccines including that of the coronavirus.
Accordingly, the state-owned Essential Drugs Company has taken steps to set up a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant at Gopalganj, with financial and technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
"We will eventually transform this plant into an international standard vaccine research and production center so that we do not rely on overseas sources for vaccines," he added.
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