ADP spending highest in six years

Development spending in the first seven months of the fiscal year has been the highest in six years, as the government's efforts to improve implementation is slowly bearing fruit.

Between July last year and January this year, the ministries and divisions spent Tk 62,282 crore, which is 34.43 percent of the total annual development programme outlay, according to data from the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).

The amount is an increase of 13.82 percent year-on-year.

However, for full utilisation of the allocation, the ministries and divisions will have to spend 65 percent of the allocation in the next five months -- a near-impossible task, said a senior official of the planning ministry.

Planning Minister MA Mannan has taken some special initiatives to further expedite the spending, including personally visiting the field level offices of different ministries and divisions to instruct the officials.

Last week, Mannan met with officials of the different ministries and divisions in Khulna, and he is scheduled to visit the Sylhet division this week.

Of the total amount spent in the first seven months, Tk 36,624 crore came from the government's own funds, which is 32.41 percent of the allocation. The implementation of the government's own funds a year earlier was 30.02 percent. Some Tk 22,526 crore was spent from foreign aid, which is 37.54 percent of the allocation. At this point a year earlier, foreign aid utilisation was 38.63 percent of the total outlay. This time performance of state-owned enterprises improved. They spent Tk 3,133 crore in the first seven months of the fiscal year, which is 39.81 percent of their allocation. It was only 33.18 percent a year earlier.

The standout performers were: the energy and mineral resources division (62.25 percent), power division (52.74 percent), science and technology ministry (59.38 percent), local government division (39.31 percent), shipping ministry (37.18 percent), primary and mass education (42.60 percent), water resources ministry (42.12 percent), and housing and public works ministry (40.99 percent).

The poor performers were: the railways ministry (11.91 percent), bridges division (23.45 percent), healthcare division (27.91 percent), road transport and highways division (25.57 percent), and secondary and higher education division (30.79 percent).