Spending of foreign aid allocation to implement the Annual Development Programme (ADP) shows a positive sign, progressing better despite the coronavirus pandemic.
In the first six months of the current fiscal, the ministries and departments were able to spend Tk 17,563 crore or 24.91 percent from the foreign aid allocation amounting to Tk 70,502 crore.
In the same period of the previous fiscal, the government utilized Tk 17,526 or 24.41 percent.
An Economic Relations Division (ERD) official said ERD has proposed allocating Tk 63,000 crore for foreign aid allocation in the revised ADP, reducing it by Tk 7,500 crore from the total allocation.
The ministries and departments have reimbursed the money as they could not spend it despite the allocation under various development projects, he said adding, this allocation was cut more in the last fiscal year.
Mostafizur Rahman, the Foreign Aid Budget and Accounts (FABA) Wing chief and Additional Secretary of the ERD, said, “Despite the Covid-19 epidemic, foreign aid this fiscal year has been cut less than last fiscal year. So it can be said that Corona did not have a negative effect.”
He said the foreign aid allocation has been deducted based on the opinion of the ministries and departments.
Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, said the foreign aid is estimated from ambitious thinking, it has to be cut off later.
“This disrupts planning discipline. Therefore, realistic allocation should be made by calculating the concrete,” he mentioned.
According to sources, the government is implementing ADP of Tk 2,14,611 crore in the current fiscal.
Of this, Tk 1,34,643 crore is being spent from government funds, Tk 70,502 crore from foreign aid and Tk 9,466 crore from implementing agencies' own funds.
Reviewing the ERD proposal sent to the Planning Commission, it is seen that the allocation to the health sector has increased this fiscal year due to Covid-19.
In the ADP, the allocation for health, nutrition, population and family welfare was Tk 4,321 crore.
From there, it has been proposed to increase Tk 3,536.42 crore to Tk 7,857.42 crore in the revised ADP.
On the other hand, the allocation of the science, information and communication technology sector has decreased the most.
The total allocation in this sector was Tk 13,121 crore. From there, the revised allocation has been reduced by Tk 5,039.73 crore to Tk 8,081.27 crore
According to sources, the foreign aid allocation in the last financial year's ADP was Tk 71,800 crore or 32.38 percent of the total ADP.
Later, the ERD reduced it by Tk 9,800 crore to Tk 62,000 crore for foreign aid allocation in the revised ADP in FY 2019-20.
At the end of the financial year, the expenditure was almost Tk 47,535 crore, 76.38 percent of the total allocation.
