The government is likely to allocate Tk 930-billion funds from external sources in the forthcoming annual development programme (ADP) of the next fiscal year (FY), 2022-23, officials said on Monday.
The allocation is Tk 50 billion higher than the original Tk 880 billion worth of project assistance (PA), and it is Tk 227 billion more than the revised allocation of Tk 702.50 billion in the current FY.
The PA is usually allocated against different ongoing projects, and the foreign development partners bankroll their implementation.
"We've already drafted the PA budget for the upcoming ADP, allocating funds for the foreign-aided projects. The draft outlay has been sent to the Planning Commission (PC) for finalising the ADP," said a senior official of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
They had provided higher PA for FY 2023, as the ministries and divisions had sought extended funds than they got in the revised ADP (RADP) in the current FY.
The ERD official added that they had consulted with all the ministries and divisions before drafting the project aid outlay for the next ADP.
Another PC official told the FE that the government wants to go for expansionary expenditure policy in the coming years to minimise the losses in the last couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the development projects.
So, the overall development budget in FY 2023 is likely to be more than 20 per cent higher than the present FY, he noted.
In the ADP, the government usually allocates nearly 40 per cent PA from the external sources and the rest 60 per cent from the internal resources.
"We are working to draft the outlay from the government's internal resources for the upcoming ADP. We are hopeful of drafting the total allocation from the internal resources within early next month," added the PC official.
Meanwhile, amid a dreary project implementation performance by different ministries, the government cut the project aid (foreign aid) budget by 20 per cent in the RADP for the current FY.
The PA had been slashed to Tk 702.50 billion from the current allocation of Tk 880.24 billion in the original ADP.
The total size of the current FY RADP stood at Tk 2.07 trillion from the original size of Tk 2.25 trillion.
"In the current FY, some large development budget holders sought lower foreign aid funds than their original allocations in the RADP. But this time many of them have sought higher PA funds," the ERD official said.
So, the foreign aid outlay in the upcoming ADP is drafted at Tk 930 billion.
The ERD official added that the transport, power, energy, education, and rural development sectors sought higher funds than their allocations, resulting in a higher PA outlay for the upcoming ADP.
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