Eyeing the upcoming national election, the government accelerated its development expenditure, especially on the power sector and construction and repairs of rural roads, bridges and culverts, in the first nine months of the fiscal year.
Between July and March, some Tk 27,219 crore was spent, which is 49 percent of the fiscal year’s allocation for annual development programme.
The expenditure at this point is four percentage points higher than in the same period a year ago, according to data from the planning ministry.
Of the total expenditure, 54 percent came from the government’s own funds, up from 53 percent in the previous fiscal year. There has been a substantial increase in utilisation of foreign funds: 42 percent versus 33 percent a year ago.
“The ministries concerned and the development partners jointly took an initiative to increase the spending of foreign funds, and it bore fruit,” said an official of the Economic Relations Division.
Among the 10 large ministries and divisions, power division, local government and roads divisions and primary and mass education ministry, were the highest spenders, using up 61-68 percent of their allocations.
“With the national election in sight, the government increased the spending of these ministries, as it tends to swing voters directly towards the ruling party during polls,” said a planning ministry official preferring not to be named.
Conversely, the implementation of projects under the health and family welfare ministry, railways ministry, water resources ministry, industries ministry, energy and mineral resources division, was slower.
“These ministries do not directly attract voters to support the incumbent party,” added the official.
In line with the traditions, the rate of expenditure is increasing in the last half of the year.
“The ministries are told to make their purchasing plans ahead of the start of the fiscal year, but they never listen,” said the official.
Economists say hurried spending towards the end of fiscal year not only waste public money but also have a detrimental effect on the quality of the completed projects.
Source: The Daily Star
