ADP spending dips in August
Development expenditure dropped 10.18 per cent year-on-year to Tk 5,097.79 crore in August as activities are yet to pick up because of the lingering coronavirus pandemic.
August's spending from the government's annual development programme (ADP) was, however, 56.63 per cent higher than what it was in July, according to data from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the planning ministry.
Ministries and divisions managed to expend only Tk 3,254 crore in the first month of the fiscal year. ADP spending in August last year was Tk 5,675.73 crore.
The combined development expenditure in the July and August period stood at Tk 8,351 crore, accounting for 3.89 per cent of the Tk 214,611 crore set aside to carry out development activities in 2020-21.
Despite the significant reopening of the economy from the two-month long countrywide lockdown in June, development activities have not yet gained momentum as the deadly virus is not showing any signs of abating.
The power division was the top performer in the first two months of the fiscal year as it spent Tk 1,322.32 crore.
Other top performers include the local government division (Tk 1,045.95 crore), the road transport and highways division (Tk 1,018.16 crore), the secondary and higher secondary division (Tk 969.16 crore), the railways ministry (Tk 774.71 crore), the science and technology ministry (Tk 554.76 crore) and the primary and mass education ministry (Tk 553.83 crore).
The parliament secretariat could not spend any money in the last two months from their ADP allocation.
Other low spenders are the law and justice division (Tk 0.02 crore) Bangladesh Public Services Commission (Tk 0.03 crore), the land ministry (Tk 0.13 crore) the statistics and information management division (Tk 0.24 crore), the defence ministry (Tk 0.30 crore), the Anti-Corruption Commission (Tk 0.36 crore), the financial institutions division (Tk 0.46 crore), the internal resources division (Tk 0.53 crore), the public security division (Tk 0.96 crore) and the information ministry (Tk 0.97 crore).
The ADP for the current fiscal year includes 1,724 projects.
Development activities came almost to a halt after the government was forced to implement a countrywide shutdown from March 26 to rein in the rising cases of coronavirus infections, causing the ADP implementation to virtually collapse in the following two months.
The development expenditure finally came down to a 27-year low last fiscal year.
The slowing trend of development spending may continue in the current fiscal year as well since the cases of coronavirus infections are on the rise.