Development spending rises 41pc in six months

The government's development spending leapt 41 percent year-on-year in the first six months of the fiscal year.

Between July and December last year, total expenditure under the Annual Development Programme stood at Tk 33,444 crore, according to statistics from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division.

The government has set aside Tk 123,346 crore for implementing various development projects this fiscal year.

However, implementation in terms of percentage is still in the slow lane as only 27 percent of the total outlay could be spent in the first half of 2016-17. Last year, it stood at 24 percent of the ADP budget of Tk 100,977 crore.

In fact, the development spending has been on a downward trajectory since fiscal 2012-13 in terms of percentage of the total outlay.

In the first six months of fiscal 2012-13, the total ADP implementation was 30 percent, with the rate of implementation progressively declining since.

Usually, the ADP amount increases every year, but its performance is evaluated by calculating the rate of implementation in comparison with the total outlay.

And the latest implementation rate showed that the government would have to spend about 73 percent of the total outlay in the remaining six months of the fiscal year.

Previous records also showed that 40-50 percent of the total ADP is implemented during the last quarter of a fiscal year.

Planning ministry officials said the historical trend is that the ADP is implemented less in the first three quarters and gets momentum in the last quarter.

The reason is that construction works take place all throughout the year but the payments are made at the end of the year, said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

Of the total spending in the first six months, the implementation rate of the government's own fund was 30.71 percent, foreign fund utilisation 21.97 percent and state-owned enterprises' funds 23.28 percent.

Ten ministries and divisions got 73 percent of the total allocation, of which only five ministries and divisions spent higher than the average implementation rate. They are: health and family welfare ministry, housing and public works ministry, primary and mass education ministry, power division and local government division.

The railway ministry, secondary and higher education division, bridges division, road transport and highways division, and water resources ministry spent much lower than the average.

Among the 55 ministries and divisions, 31 performed lower than the average implementation rate of 27 percent.

For instance, the total allocation for the Anti-Corruption Commission this fiscal year was Tk 79 crore but it could not spend a single taka. The commerce ministry, industries ministry, ICT Division, Statistics and Information Management Division could spend only 4 to 5 percent of their allocations.