New Delhi, January 29 (IANS). The National Economic Council (NEC) of Bangladesh has made major cuts in the budget of health and education sectors while reviewing the Annual Development Program (ADP) in the middle of the current financial year. According to a media report, the total size of ADP has been reduced by about 12.5 percent.
The total allocation under the revised ADP has been reduced to Tk 2,08,935 crore, which is 3.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Earlier it was Tk 2,30,000 crore (3.7 percent of GDP). This information has been given in the report of Bangladesh’s English daily The Daily Star.
According to the report, the major reasons for the budget cuts include slow expenditure rate, revenue collection falling short of expectations, slow flow of foreign funding and lack of adequate projects.
The health sector has suffered the biggest blow. For this, the originally fixed allocation of Taka 18,148 crore has been reduced by 74 percent. At the same time, the budget of secondary and higher education sector has also been reduced by 55 percent from Taka 28,557 crore.
The report said that the implementation rate of these two key social sectors was very low in the first six months of the financial year, due to which the NEC took the decision to reduce the budget in view of the possibility of under-utilization of funds. It aims to improve the overall implementation rate of ADP by the end of the year.
However, the report also cautions that while this step may seem logical in the short term, a deeper assessment of the root causes of the long-standing weak implementation process in the health and education sectors is necessary to improve the future performance of these critical social sectors.
Drastic cuts in the budget for the health sector in the revised ADP may lead to delays in treatment of serious diseases like cancer, kidney and heart diseases. At the same time, cuts in the education budget may increase the risk of more children leaving school.
The Revised Annual Development Program (RADP) covers a total of 1,330 projects, including 1,108 investment projects, 35 feasibility studies and 121 technical assistance projects. In addition, 66 projects are being implemented by autonomous bodies and corporations from their own resources.
According to the report, the local government division has received the highest allocation of Tk 37,534 crore in RADP. This includes social security schemes, poverty alleviation programmes, infrastructure development and operation and maintenance projects in municipal corporations, municipalities and unions.
–IANS
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